Luck Had To Run Out Someday
by Jelloe
Summary: Joel lied to Ellie, but Ellie knew better. What happens when Ellie knew he lied right after he swore to her? What happens if rebels came and were prepared to pillage Tommy and Maria's home? What happens if Ellie ends up all alone? Luck had to run run out someday right? Things happen for a reason as well right? Follow the story of Ellie and Joel... Will their luck still thrive?
1. Ellie - Tantrum

_**Hey guys! This is going to be more first fanfic! Yay haha. I guess I made this because I really wanted more of the story. Props to NaughtyDog for making such an amazing game. Like actually... I cried throughout the game and the suspense was just so intense! What I loved was the personalities of all the characters and their facial expressions really mean something for the player. Overall, this game was probably the BEST game I have ever played in my life. I hope you read my fanfic, rate, and review it! Share it with your friends if you want to lol. **__**People of Reddit. Please read this too if you saw my link! I'd love your feedback too :)**_

_**Now with the story. This story takes place literally RIGHT after the game ended. Like right when there was a zoom-in on Ellie's face with that expression that she doesn't trust Joel. When she says "OK". So don't get confused :P. I brainstormed a lot and I think the story is going to be AMAZING.**_

_**So without further ado, I would like to introduce to you my first story...**_

_**It's Called Luck and it Ran Out**_

* * *

**Chapter 1 – Ellie - Tantrum**

Ever since Joel died, life wasn't as it seemed. It's been 15 years. Yeah. He died at a good age. Food's scarce now and Tommy and Maria's place isn't going to last very soon.

Ever since Joel died, people started to move out of Tommy and Maria's fortress. Fearing one of _those_ will break in.

Joel died when we were overrun by the infected. Luckily some families were safe without a scratch. So why him? Luck had to run out someday right?

Joel was bitten when we were surrounded. You want to hear the story right? Well let's start from when we just got back from our long, pain in the ass, all for nothing journey.

His death was my fault.

* * *

"What you don't believe me?" asked Joel looking annoyed

"What if I said I didn't?" I replied

"You don't know what I went through to save you"

"Tell me. Tell me what you had to go through. Because obviously you've been through more shit than me right Joel?" I demanded

Joel paused for a second and his nose flared. He took a deep breath and said, "They tried to kill you like the many others who were immune" he pauses. "Like I said. They stopped looking for a cure."

"Yeah bullshit. Don't change the fucking subject."

Anger grew inside of me and I walked past him as if he weren't there.

"Now Ellie – "

"Don't you fucking say my name you liar!" I tried holding back tears. I knew all of what he said was total bullshit.

I ran to Tommy and Maria's little town. How much I would kill to just be alone by myself.

I knocked on the front entrance and there was Tommy opening the door.

"Ellie! You're back! Hey everyone! The girl just saved the world! Where's Joel?" Joel asked

"Wherever he wants to be" I replied.

Tears began running down my cheeks. I couldn't hold them in anymore. I sprinted down a small road and went into an abandoned factory. I sat there to try and reflected on everything. Everything that Joel and I have been through. Everything Joel did for me. Everything _I_ did for Joel. After all we've been through. It _was_ for nothing.

I started hearing panic outside.

"ELLIE PLEASE" Joel sounded desperate. Please what? Please let me tell you more lies? He's had enough control over me. Throughout the trip it has always been that way. Listen to Joel. Do what Joel says. Follow Joel. He never asked about my opinion on things.

He hides so much of his past and he doesn't try and resolve them. He's killed so many people and I know it's for the safety of both of us but is it really necessary? So many things are going through me. I can't think clearly.

Tears are still flowing down my cheeks. I began to hyperventilate. My breathing pattern grew shorter and shorter.

"Why?" I started weeping. All of the things we've been for. It was all for nothing. I don't think he knows the shit I went through during winter season. Keeping him alive and hunting for food.

I felt so alone. So scared.

So exposed.

He doesn't know what I have been through. The trauma I experienced from David. The things the men did to me. The things I can never recover from.

"At least I can think of the past" I chuckled

Why can't he just tell the truth? Why doesn't he just understand me? After everything we've been through. I now think of him as my father and he's the only person I got. Everyone abandoned me fucking except for him. Why can't he just tell me the truth? I knew Marlene more than him. She would never just give up and turn cold hearted.

"Well fuck him. I can do things perfectly without his help."

I looked out the window. It looked late but the light was still on. I never understood this "electric power". Even when Joel explained it to me. I never thought of him as the intelligent type.

I looked around more and found another diary. This is some weird Déjà vu shit that's happening right now. People always write their names on the top right corner of the first page right?

"Nick Jackson… Oh it's a diary of a guy!"

Geez just like girls except they just play more sports. Looks like this guy played a sport called basketball.

I walked around while reading and began to notice the silence that consumed me. I began to whistle. Then something peculiar happened.

_-click click click-_

Clickers. I stopped reading and immediately crouched down. Too late. The clickers heard me whistle and ran towards my way.

The runners followed behind.

There was too many that I could count.

Something about this situation is different. Joel's not here.

The worst possible decision was to run off from everyone. Why did I do this to myself?

Why did I do this to Joel?

If only Joel was here.

I would feel safe.


	2. Ellie - Fire

**Hi guys!**

**I guess the first chapter was successful eh? thanks for all the favorites and followers! You guys all spammed my email address hahaha No worries though :P It was really nice seeing that a lot of people like my story.**

**Well. You guys may be surprised during this chapter! As we already know, the abandoned factory was surprisingly filled by clickers and runners. This is a fortress protected by many peope... How did this happen? You'll find out in this chapter! **

**Please continue to have faith in me guys haha**

**I will probably be posting 1 chapter each day or every other day since it is summer vacation :P**

**Thanks for all the love and support. Don't forget to R&R!**

**Jelloe**

* * *

**Chapter 2 – Ellie - Fire**

* * *

_-Click Click Click-_

"Fuck."

I crouched and quickly got behind a wooden box. Luckily they didn't hear my scrambling.

The lights went right out after. I peered out one side of the caged windows in the factory and saw stars. I looked out the other side and everything was pitch black. How did Tommy and Maria's place just lose power all of a sudden? I wondered what was happening outside and thinking if Joel is still trying to look for me. _"Joel please help" _I thought.

_-Click Click Click-_

No time to think about Joel. What's happening in our little fortress? How did these infected get in? I peered to where the infected came from. Looking through a hallway, an easily noticeable hole stared right at me. This hole basically divided our fortress and the wilderness. If this hole isn't patched up soon, Tommy and Maria's won't last long. There was a good distance between me and the hole so for now, I was safe from outside. But still, how did the settlers not notice this huge thing?

I stared at the hole long enough to see an actual human standing outside. Nothing growing on the person's skin. It was as If he or she was looking at me. The mysterious person then set a match on fire. I was only able to partially see the mysterious person's face .My eyes followed the match. The match lit a torch… Fuck. This guy is creepy. He was a man probably in his late twenties. Very pale and skinny. So skinny that I even saw his cheekbones protruding out of his skin. Blood was smeared across his dirt-stained light-brown jacket. The jacket didn't look too new. Cotton was creeping out of each little cut the jacket had. He wore jeans that looked light-blue but worn out by dirt. Rusty colors probably from dry blood stained his pants hinting that he's killed people for a very long time. The man had a scar running down his forehead, across his eye, and down to his cheek. He sneered and stared at me. From the looks of it he was definitely not a nice guy. I swear, if this is another one of David's little shits, I will hunt this asshole down. But something about this person was different. He didn't look like he was from the inner-city and he doesn't look like David's little cannibal shits. He obviously isn't part of the fireflies either. A chill went up my spine as he glared at me while smiling. His head tilted to the right and my head mirrored his. He began to bend down with the torch and I then notice some kind of liquid on the ground. An array of little strips of rainbow glistened off the surface of the liquid. That's when I realized something about the liquid. My eyes widened and gasped. "_Holy Shit" _I said in my head. "_That's gasoline"_

The array of small rainbows streaked across the gasoline as the torch crept closer and closer to the ground.

I caught one last glimpse of him. And fire divided both of us apart.

"Oh my god… JOEL!"

I screamed for Joel. Bad Idea. A clicker ran right towards me and I tried to fight back. It was sooner or later until other infected began to notice. I got lucky. The rest of the infected were more interested in the fire and some even noticed the creepy man. I began punching the clicker's head and pieces of its mushroom head began coming off. Each punch hurt my knuckles but it was kill or be killed. Hunt or be hunted. Joel was the one who taught all of this. After a ridiculous amount of punches thrown at the clicker, I finally killed it. The clicking stopped but I knew there were still more of them. I looked at my knuckles and noticed all the cuts that were caused from the ridges of the clicker. I sat down for about a minute staring at my knuckle. Scrutinizing every cut and every bruise and taking out little pieces of mushroom pieces. As the adrenaline began to disappear, a sharp pain began to accumulate from each cut. As if needles were stabbing my entire hand. I felt each cut growing more painful. I know sooner or later my hand is going to swell up. I need to get the hell out of here. And fast.

_Why do the smallest things hurt so fucking much?_ I said in my head

I looked for the exit I came in from and bolted for the door. The factory is completely engulfed in fire. The roof began to have flames of debris falling down around me. What the hell did this asshole want from us? I looked around and noticed I was basically inside a fireball. I got to the exit but it wouldn't budge. "_That's not right." _I thought in my head _"I opened this fucking door when I came in"_. By this time, flames engulfed me and I could barely breathe. I continued slamming against the exit hoping it will move.

_-Bang-_

Nothing.

_-Bang-_

Still nothing.

I turned around expecting the infected were still on the other side of the abandoned factory or disappeared chasing the pale man. I was almost right. Only some went for that weird dude. The rest were across the room near the debris and fire. That was until the infected heard the sound of the door's banging. The clickers and runners turned to my direction when the banging drummed out the sound of debris and fire. They started running towards me.

Working double-time, I continued to tackle the exit but there wasn't even a budge. I looked back. They're coming to get me anytime now. Engulfed by flames, I could barely see in front me. I was in desperate need of air. The smell of smoke consumed my lungs. My coughing got worse and worse. I continued to tackle. My body worked faster than my heart. My eyes began to feel the beat of my heart. I breathed faster and faster. My lungs protested the smoke and begged for more air.

A runner grabbed me but I was able to slam her head on the exit handle. Another technique learned by Joel. "Get the fuck away!" I screamed.

I continued to tackle the exit.

Another runner came but this time I didn't expect it. I felt the sharp teeth tearing through the flesh on my left arm. Tearing through my skin.

"AHHH"

I kicked the runner away. Looking back, I saw more runners sprinting towards me. Clickers thrashing their arms around hoping to touch something human-like. I looked at my arm for a brief second. This was worse than the first one. Blood ran down my shoulder and dampened my dark blue jeans.

"Somebody. HELP" My voice rasped. When was the last time I needed help? I really have no idea when. My vision began to darken. My ears began to ring. I used the last of my energy and dived shoulder first in front of the door. Nothing.

I slid to the left of the exit and stared at all the infected coming towards me.

The only thing I could do now is to just kick them away.

I guess it's the end of me. I sat there staring at the flames on the rooftop. The only immune girl. Me. Dead. Out of everyone. Why me?

"I'm sorry Joel"

Smoke continued coming through my lungs. My whole body cramped up. I couldn't move.

I laid down and stared at the flaming roof. It's too late now.

_-Clank-_

Weird. I smell fresh air.

-Bang-


	3. Joel - Keep Find Something to Fight For

**Happy July 4th Everyone! I really didn't expect my first story to get so many people to follow/favorite! I've gotten a lot of PMs to write more and I definitely will be writing more :) Thanks so much for the love and support! Continue to believe in me :D**

**So if you have not noticed yet, The reason why I write names for each chapter is because I put it in their point of view. This is Joel's chapter soooo ya.**

**You're probably gonna love this one though. Some secrets from Ellie will be revealed :)**

**Once again, thanks for all the love and support!**

**Jelloe**

**Don't forget to R&R!**

**Chapter 3 – Joel – Keep Finding Something You Gotta Fight For**

* * *

Ellie's something I fight for. Without her it's like losing Sarah again.

Ellie is what is keeping me alive. As long as she's alive and happy, that's all I want from my life

She calls me a liar but she doesn't understand the worry and care I have grown for her.

I lied to her to protect her. She's been through enough.

You're calling me selfish right? You've never been through the things I've been through.

I miss having a daughter. I can't afford to lose someone like her again. I can't feel that pain again.

The loneliness. The sadness. The regret.

I don't want to have those feelings again.

I wouldn't care less if I died for the sake of her living.

Anger and frustration flared through me. I chased after her but she's too fast. Age is taking its toll on me. Looking through every corner in Tommy and Maria's place, there wasn't even a trace of Ellie. "ELLIE PLEASE" my chest got heavier and heavier, tears began to form in my eyes, and I started closing them as I knelt down.

"Hey big brother" Tommy caught up to me and patted me on the back, "Don't you worry a thing about Ellie. She's a strong girl. I just sent a group of men to search for her. She's gonna show up, don't you worry one bit"

I stood up and wiped the tears off my eyes. Been awhile since I cried. I looked up. No sign of the sun was up. The sky was beautiful. Patches of blue, purple, orange, and red covered the sky. Night's coming soon. I can't leave her all alone like that, not without her equipment. I stared at Ellie's backpack. The backpack was worn out and had patches with disgusting colors of blue and green which made me feel uncomfortable. I never got to pay close attention to Ellie's backpack. Pins of all sorts were attached onto her backpack. "Let's keep looking for her Joel." Tommy said.

I carried her backpack and continued looking for her. Where the hell is she? I can't just give up. What if she snuck out? Is she really gone? "No. This can't be happening" I bit my lower lip. "Now listen here Ellie. I don't know if you can hear me or not, but please, come out. Just let me explain." Looking around for any glimpse of Ellie, hope inside of me began to diminish. It's been a long day and my muscles could barely support me body.

I sat down on a curb and looked at Ellie's backpack. Something nudged me to open it up. Throughout the whole journey, Ellie never told me what was inside this backpack of hers. I looked around and didn't see anyone. Unzipping the smallest part of the backpack, I saw pencils. _"Never knew she was a writer" _I thought in my head.

Unzipping the biggest part of the backpack, I took out everything inside. There were notebooks, some bandages, bullets, a pistol, a knife, the toy Sam wanted, and probably her most important god damn accessory of all time, her joke book. "Shit. This thing again" Opening up the joke book, I began to read some of the most redundant and cheesy jokes I've ever read in my entire damn life.

_Two Antennas met on a roof, fell in love and got married. The ceremony wasn't much, but the reception was excellent._

_Why are all the frogs around here dead? 'Cause they keep croaking!_

_What do Eskimos get from sitting on the ice too long? Polaroids._

"Man these jokes aren't funny. How does she like this joke book?" I said to myself. "Ellie please don't do this to me. Where've you gone off to this time?"

I put the joke book back to where it was and took out the notebook. I began to look at the notebook and skimmed through it. There was actually Ellie's writing on each page.

_Dear Diary,_

_ Today I met this stupid asshole named Joel. Marlene told me I would be safe with him but I really don't believe that. Him and this girlfriend, Tess, get in all these fights and I would always be there standing awkwardly. I'm scared. What if they find out about who I actually am? And why I'm so important? They treat me like shit and think of me only like a package. They don't even want to socialize with me. I wish some people can understand me more. They're only sneaking me out just for some stupid guns. I hope these selfish assholes get what they deserve._

"The first day I met her… That was one long day." I muttered, "Is that what she really thought of me?"

I began to read more and I began to notice the relationship between me and Ellie began to change.

_Dear Diary,_

_ Joel told me that he wanted to be a singer when he wanted to grow up! Haha. Was that really a thing back then? I really wonder if he sings well. I kept on nagging him but he just says it's too embarrassing. I really appreciate for what Joel did to me today. He's not like the other people I knew. Marlene, Mom, Dad, they all either died or abandoned me. But not Joel. Joel… he's different. I really like him. He can get pretty gruesome when it comes to fighting. But it's kill or be killed right? He let me name the horse too! Callus has been a great companion so far._

I began to grin and began to read more. I still remember that day. I said something that I probably regretted at that time. _You're not my father, and I sure as hell ain't your Dad. _Ellie must have forgiven me. Smiling, I began to read the last writing from her diary...

_Dear Joel,_

_ I don't know if you'll ever read this but… I really want to thank you for being there for me. I know that we've had our ups and downs, but I think we've seriously had some bonding time together. You've kept me safe and I kept you safe too. I still remember the times I would help be throwing bricks at those infected and hunters. Also winter… Tough times right? Yeah I know that I feel kind of pissed off about that whole 'not making a cure' thing from the fireflies, but I'll grow from it! Like a runner turning into a clicker. Haha. I want to be with you forever Joel. You're the only person that hasn't given up on me. You never seem to have abandoned me. And I know that you never will. I really can't wait for our years to come. I hope you teach me how to swim and pluck away on your six-string like you promised. Remember, Promise comes with trust. We've known each other for a long time. We work well together and we've been through the same past; we both lost someone we loved and cared for. I really think of you as my dad, Joel. And I guess all I want to say is…_

_ Thanks Dad. I love you._

_Ellie._

My mouth opened. Stunned. Tears began to come down my eyes again. _Is this really happening? _Stunned, I just kept on re-reading the last part. "Dad" She called me "Dad". A grin turned into a smile. I took a deep breathe, "I just need to know where you are."

I took a deep breath and sighed. Stars covered what used to be the blotched colors of sunset. I checked my watch, 7:00. "Forgot it was broken" I mumbled. "Sarah gave this to me…"

I began to feel the watch. The smooth leather feeling always gave me nostalgia. The times when I still had her in my life. "I miss you Sarah. I know you and Ellie would have definitely got along well together" Taking another deep breathe, I began to look around. Some people were still scouting round the area searching for Ellie.

Then, something happened.

"FIRE FIRE FIRE" a villager screamed.

Tommy, Maria, and many other patrolling guards went to the villager, "Where is it?!" asked Maria.

"There! Look! It's the abandoned factory! The place where we first settled in! Ellie could be in there!"

A small line of red just skimmed the roofs.

My heart dropped. "Shit. ELLIE!" I started to sprint towards the fire. "Not like this. Please not like this".

Ellie wouldn't have set the factory on fire. That's impossible. Something isn't right.

I reached the factory, the flames were getting stronger by each second, debris was falling from inside, and something else was inside too.

Clicking and growling could be heard from outside. "Oh fuck no no no no. Ellie no. Baby please be alive." My voice began to choke. I clenched my teeth praying to God that a miracle could happen. It was too dangerous to go inside at this time. "I'm not opening this door until I hear your voice. Baby please. Say somethin'… Please. Anyth-"

"Somebody. HELP" Ellie's voice.

I grabbed my shotgun from my backpack and ran towards the door.

A piece of wood was wedged in the door handle. I snatched it and threw it behind me.

Opening the door, the first thing I noticed was a clicker about to bite Ellie.

_-Bang-_

The clicker fell down and stopped thrashing. The runners and clickers grew more interested in me. Good. Shooting each infected in the head, blood started to splatter all over the factory floor. I was always scared of clickers. Their drooling sharp teeth, mushroom heads, and their clicking. They looked crazy. I looked down and saw Ellie.

Bleeding.

"No. No. Please. No. HELP" I picked Ellie up and ran outside. "Somebody help! We need a doctor! Anyone! Please!"

I looked at Ellie. She looked pale. I put my finger on her neck, hoping for a pulse. "Oh God. Don't leave me now Ellie. Don't leave baby. Stay with me. Somebody! Help!" I looked around. Everyone was staring at Ellie.

Someone pointed at Ellie's arm. Bitten. So what? She's immune.

"She's bitten! Joel! It's too late!" a visitor yelled out at me.

I glared at Tommy. "You never told them?"

Tommy stood there awkwardly and kept yelling, "She's immune! Don't worry. Medic! Where are you? She's not going to turn!"

A woman sprinted, pushing the crowd. She quickly took out loads of bandages and covered her arm and hand up. Burn marks were all over her legs. "Stay with me baby. Stay with me." I grabbed her hand and kept looking at her closed eyes. I began to rock back and forth, "You're gonna make it. Don't you worry Ellie, don't you worry."

"Your daughter is going to be just fine" The nurse said smiling. "She just needs some rest. You'll see her tomorrow morning."

"Can – can I be with her? I'd like to be there when she wakes up." I looked at her desperately.

"No problem. Just get yourself cleaned up and you can stay."

The crowd grew silent. They gave me room to walk side by side with Ellie. We got to the first aid grounds and laid her down. I sat down next to her. "Would you like a blanket or anything warm for you?" the nurse asked kindly. "Gonna be a pretty cold night you know."

"Sure. Thanks" I continued staring at Ellie. "You're gonna be fine baby"

"That's quite a strong and beautiful daughter you have there" The nurse said.

"Yeah."

Something about the nurse made me want to know more about her. "Excuse me ma'am, what's your name?"

"Sarah"

"Thanks Sarah. For saving her. I had a daughter. Her name was also-"

"Well looks like we've all lost someone special right?" She gave me a warm smile and looked at Ellie, "It's my job to keep people alive. You should get some sleep."

"You too"

Sarah closed the door. I continued looking at Ellie. "You're gonna make it baby. You'll be fine."

I started to relax knowing she's going to make it. I put down her backpack and read the letter from Ellie to me over and over. I decided to write a small letter under hers.

_I'm not the writing type._

_ I love you too Ellie._

_ Joel_

I put the notebook back in her backpack and it wasn't until a few minutes after that I dosed off.

At least I know she's safe.

She's the reason why I still live.

She's the one that I fight for.

Her name is Ellie

And she's my daughter.


	4. UPDATE 1

**OkOkOk.**

**Here's the thing. I'm not dead. I will be writing more hahaha.**

**So what's happening is... is that I'm reviewing my latest chapter so far and the characters seem kinda OOC. Also, I just don't feel that energy to write TLoU haha.**

**I think I should rewatch the cutscenes to feel that energy of TLoU**

**Lately I've been catching up on the Percy Jackson series... Well more like The Lost Hero series so yeah. I was more into that than this game for this weekend... Great book btw. You should read it. **

**Soooo I'll probably be posting the next chapter by tomorrow night EST. Just need to get that TLoU writing back. You know... the depressing, serious, actiony type of feeling back.**

**I've also been pretty busy studying over the summer and stuff too.**

**Prepare to read the next chapter! Ellie finds out the truth about what happened in the hospital! yay?**

**Just so that this chapter isn't just an update, here's what home feels like to Ellie.**

I got up and left the first aid grounds. The sun glinted on my eyes and I started to look around. The parents seemed to have been going through their daily lives – Milking cows, plowing dirt, planting seeds, gathering water from the river, guarding the walls, and feeding animals. Children under my age were playing games and walking with their parents, but those that were old enough to work helped the community as well. The place started to look… normal. Before the outbreak. Something that I never experienced. I closed my eyes, and took a deep breathe. An aroma of fresh bread and stew filled the air. I opened my eyes and smiled. I never had a home, but I guess this is it. This is the closest to what I'll be calling home.


	5. Ellie - The Truth

**Here you go as promised! Sorry if this chapter wasn't as good... I had trouble writing this one :(**

**Please please please please please... Rate and Review or PM me to tell me what I should build on. I'll try my best to do well on the next chapter!**

**This Chapter: Ellie finds out the truth about what happened to the firefly base while Joel is preparing everyone if there will be an invasion.**

**Next Chapter: Maria + Ellie following the truck path and talking w/ some action :P**

**Please continue to read. Please Rate and Review! I really want some constructive feedback!**

**Enjoy this chapter!**

**Jelloe**

* * *

**Chapter 4 - Ellie – The Truth**

Birds chirping, fresh air, eyes closed. Am I in heaven? I continued to close my eyes and continued to embrace the peaceful sounds emanated. Then I heard Joel's voice.

"The fuck you mean no one goes there? She obviously went where no one else would be." There goes Joel, all pissed off.

I guess I'm alive.

"Look Joel, I didn't know that-"

"Don't you be telling me you didn't know that there was a god damn hole in that factory" Joel growled, "You said this place was secure. Well it sure as hell isn't. How in fuckin' hell are we gonna fix this now? The hole's a good 5 feet. You got the supplies to fix that?"

"Joel. I don't know ok? No one goes to that factory anymore. We really didn't know how the hole showed up. When we came here, Infected were all over this area. The first place we hid was in that factory, but there never was a hole there."

"Why didn't you guys ever go back?"

"Never used it again. It was supposed to be secure. We never thought that this would ha-"

"Well now it happened. And Ellie's hurt."

I opened my eyes and tried to get up. I winced from the pain and made a sound. Joel came in through the curtains and looked at me, "Hey how you feelin'?"

Looks like he still hasn't remembered why I ran from him. I glared at him and continued to try and stand up.

"Ellie, don't you be tryin' to get up. You're hurt pretty badly"

I continued to glare at him and Joel started to back away. I left the room and went to get a glass of water.

"What's wrong with you two?" Tommy asked in the other room.

"We'll talk later." Joel replied.

"You're changing Joel. You're not the same person as you used to be."

"Tommy. Not. Now," Joel Demanded, "Ellie. I know you're still mad. We'll talk later about th-"

"Always talking later. Yeah whatever." I really don't want to put up with this shit right now.

"Please. Ellie. We need you right now. You were the only person that was in that factory. What exactly happened?"

"I don't know." I lied. He always lies to me. I'm not telling him shit.

"Ellie plea-"

"I. Don't. Know." Why can't this guy just believe me like I do? Put up with it?

"Ellie come outside for a minute. I need to talk to you."

I got up and left the first aid grounds. The sun glinted on my eyes and I started to look around. The parents seemed to have been going through their daily lives – Milking cows, plowing dirt, planting seeds, gathering water from the river, guarding the walls, and feeding animals. Children under my age were playing games and walking with their parents, but those that were old enough to work helped the community as well. The place started to look… normal. Before the outbreak. Something that I never experienced. I closed my eyes, and took a deep breathe. An aroma of fresh bread and stew filled the air. I opened my eyes and smiled. I never had a home, but I guess this is it. This is the closest to what I'll be calling home.

"You done yet?" Joel scared me. Shit Joel. You can sneak up on hunters, but don't pull that on me. "I wanna talk. About… what happened."

"Like I said Joel, I don't know." I'm getting tired of this.

"Not about that," Joel looked annoyed, "Look. Ellie. I guess I'll admit that I lied but –"

"Yeah no shit," I laughed hysterically, "You going to tell me what actually happened? Or are you just going to tell me another dirty lie? Because if you haven't noticed yet Joel, Me and you? We've been through so much just to GET to the Fireflies' base. And what happens? I almost drowned and the next time I wake up, you're hauling my ass back here. They stopped looking for a cure? Marlene fucking told me that I was the only person Joel. Me. I was the only immune person she knows. So what happened?" My eyes grew hazy as I pushed him.

"Ellie. They had to kill you to find a cure. And there were actually more like you. And all those procedures failed. They all died." Joel had his same facial expression. The eyes glaring, mouth pursed.

"How do you know?"

"Their voice recordings. I listened to them," Joel explained, "You… were different. You weren't the first to be immune. But your mutation was different. But they had to kill you."

My chest grew heavy.

"They could have failed you know. You're the first for this mutation. They could have failed going through the procedure. No cure and death.

So Joel saved my life?

"What happened to Marlene?" I asked.

"They didn't give me a choice" Joel replied, trying to change the subject.

"What. Happened. To Marlene?"

"Ellie. Drop it."

"Joel. I'm not a kid anymore. I knew Marlene. Don't you fucking hide things about her!" Joel was always like this. Always trying to get out of hard situations by hiding things.

"Dead. I had to kill her. She didn't give me a choice. She wanted to do the procedure. She would have gone after you."

My surrogate mother. Killed by Joel? Anger and sadness built up in me. Who gives Joel the right to shoot Marlene and bring me back to Maria and Tommy's? "What if I told you that I wanted this to happen? I wanted to die for them to try and find a cure?"

Joel stared at me silently and said, "What's going on in your mind that you would rather risk your LIFE on some bullshit procedure just to try and find a cure? They didn't give you a CHOICE."

"What if I did? What if I wanted to die just so they can try and find a cure? You fucking killed Marlene!" I ran towards him and started punching him "She was like a mother to me!"

"Ellie. I'm sorry."

"Sorry doesn't cut it Joel! I knew Marlene for a long time. I don't believe that you killed her."

"Ell-"

"No shut the fuck up. Just shut up. Please."

Joel put a hand on me, "Ellie, she wanted to kill you. Just for some procedure."

I pushed his arms aside, "That procedure could have saved the world."

"She's dead Ellie"

"Do you think I'd fucking trust you? After you admitted that you lied to me?"

"What do you want me to do? Show you her corpse?"

"I want to go back Joel."

"Ellie. No."

"FUCKING TAKE ME BACK" Tears streamed down my eyes.

"Ellie. It is over. We can go when this is all over."

"Fine." I'm stuck in a lie. I'm not going to believe Joel until there's proof. I started to cry and breathed quickly. I began to see stars and next thing I knew, it was night time.

"What the fuck? Ow!" I raised my head up too high and a bruising pain swelled in my head. I looked around and no one was in the room. "Ellie, you alright?"

I looked over and saw Joel standing next to me. With the same straight expression. I wonder if he was always like this. I looked behind Joel and saw Tommy and Maria standing there silently.

"You were the only person inside that factory. You know the most out of any of us Ellie, can you please tell us?" Maria asked kindly.

"Tell them to leave first." I looked over at Tommy and Joel. They both looked confused, but Maria looked over and they left the room reluctantly. "Guess this is the time for me and you to talk about this whole damn situation big brother." Tommy patted Joel on the back. They both looked so similar. Yet their personalities were so different.

I waited until both Tommy and Joel closed the door so I could start talking. Once I heard the click of the handle from the door, I started talking. I started off simple. "There was a man," I could still remember the creepy guy's face, staring at me, grinning, and glaring. He looked different from our other enemies, "He was freakishly pale. He did it. He set the factory on fire," I sat up and paused trying to remember more of the man's physical character, "He had a scar running down his forehead… to his face. It was huge. And… and he had tons of blood stains on his shirt and jacket. It wasn't long after that until he set the factory on fire. I think he made the hole. That's probably how he got in and poured the whole damn place with gasoline and alcohol."

Maria's eyes widened, "Oh my God… I need to find Tommy. We need to tell everyone."

"Yeah. This place isn't going to last unless you guys take care of it."

"Ellie, we'll talk later ok? I need to tell the other people."

I nodded and looked at her, "I can help right? Use a gun and stuff?"

"Sure"

"Alright. I feel better now. Let me see if I can get up…" I stood up and moved my feet to the ground. I stood up and started to walk.

Me and Maria left the first aid grounds and looked for Tommy. Maria asked a guard and they said that both of them went to the factory to talk. As we jogged towards them, I began to notice campfires all around the place. They were all dancing, singing, and sharing stories. I hope they can make it out alive if something bad goes wrong. Once we reached Tommy, Joel was still talking with him, but they both stopped and listened to what Maria had to say.

"Ok we need to plan this out. Tommy, gather the people who can't fight and bring them somewhere safe. We're going to need more guards patrolling every damn perimeter this time," Joel's always been a good leader, "Maria, gather people who are able to fight and update them about what's happened. And Ellie…" Joel looked embarrassed, "Bring the guns to the briefing room. Guards are going to need it. We're not letting these sons of bitches fuck over our land again. No one's getting hurt this time."

"Whatever you say goes right?" I said while turning around

When I got the gun room, stacks and piles of guns were everywhere. Ammo, grenades, guns, and armor._ "Man, these guys are well supplied_" I thought in my head. I took as much as I could and brought them to the briefing room. Came back, and grabbed more. This lasted for a good hour. Once I finished, I went to Joel and stood next to him.

"…I want you guys to stand guard here, here, and here. Me and Tommy just tracked the guy's tires from his truck. It was going due west so watch out there. The rest of you are to be spread apart and stand watch. Anything that doesn't seem right to you, radio us and we'll get to your post as fast as we can. Each person is standing guard for nine hours. We have three groups so there's plenty of time to rest." Everyone nodded and went to their posts. The guards seemed happy to see people volunteer and help stand guard. Tommy, Maria, and Joel stood there and looked at me.

"You're sticking with me."

I glared at him. No way in hell am I going to stick with him. After all, he killed Marlene.

"We're following the guy's truck. Me and you make a good team right?"

"Why the fuck do I always have to follow you around?" I said

Joel looked stunned. He had those faces where he's stunned but calm. His face looked like he was using some kind of mind power.

"Hey Joel? Can I speak with you for a minute?" Maria walked with Joel and had a quick discussion.

After their conversation, Maria went up to me and said, "Ellie. How about me and you instead of Joel? We can catch up on things while we're walking.

"That works," I said, "but what about the guards who volunteered and still can't use a gun? They can't just always be scouting right?"

"Don't worry about that. Remember. Groups of three with nine hour shifts for each group? Each person gets eighteen hours of free time. We can have them practice on a training field. Tommy, you don't mind if the fields over there can be used as a shooting range can you?"

Tommy smiled, "No problem. No one uses them anyways."

Eighteen hours… I know how to shoot, I know how to sneak, and I know how to survive. I'll go there once in a while, but what should I do for the rest of the time after the small trip?

"Let's go get some sleep." Joel said.

Today was basically the first day that we actually settled into our rooms. I roomed with Joel unfortunately. The room was silent. I'd rather sleep outside than room with him. He fucking killed Marlene. Then again he could be lying. But who lies about that shit? He definitely did. I don't want to talk to him right now. I just want to know what happened. I looked to Joel who was going through his backpack. When he took out these recording devices.

"If you don't believe me, then here. Listen to these," Joel murmured, "Go listen to them outside if you want. I'm going to sleep."

I took it from him and left the room. I clicked play and began listening to each one. Marlene sounded desperate. She really did want to kill me. I looked back to me and Joel's room. Then looked back at the recorder. So Marlene really wanted to kill me just to try and find a cure. Why would she do that? Was she that desperate? She wanted to protect me. But instead she was too selfish. I'm the only kind with this mutation and she's willing to risk ME for a cure? Man. What a bitch. I guess Joel was right. Marlene really did want to kill me for some bullshit procedure. I took a deep breath, "But why'd you have to kill her Joel?" I still don't trust him

Abandonment is something I've experienced for too long. I just wish that someone can be there for me. I looked up at the star-lit sky. Shiny dots covered the air, they looked like polka dots from a dress I saw someone wear. The moonlit sky shined bright and white giving a dim light to the ground. I looked at the recorders and opened my backpack to keep them. But something wasn't right.

The diary is flipped to the wrong page.

_"No. Did he really read…?"_

I flipped to the page with the letter.

_I'm not the writing type._

_ I love you too Ellie._

_ Joel_

Tears began to fill my eyes. He was always there. Side by side with me. He never abandoned me. I started to see stars again.

"Please not this again…" I whispered

More stars began to show up in my eyes.

I quickly tried to put my diary back in my backpack but it was too late. My arms grew weak.

I passed out.


	6. Ellie - Meeting Sarah

**Sorry guyssss :( Had to cut this one short. You guys may know that I'm heading to Cali for vacation. I'm going to have to prepare for the trip tomorrow so I decided to write a quicky. My bad that I didn't write as much. But I promise you, I will be writing my ass off on the plane-ride so you'll probably expect 1 chapter/day or every 2 days. That's if I find WiFi lol. I'm going to be going hiking and stuff on certain days sooo yeah. But I'd like to really put Sarah into perspective. You'll get to know Sarah more in this chapter and maybe have some more feelings for her lol**

**Sorry for the short chapter. I know I said that there was going to be action for this one buuut I guess I lied. Like Joel. lol forgive me please? Maybe I should make you guys suffer more and right the next chapter about Joel talking with Sarah and Tommy... plus definitely some action.**

**Don't worry guys :) I'll put more violence and action for the next story.**

**Please R and R so you can give me some feedback! I really need some of that :P Thanks for those that are still reading this :)**

**Jelloe**

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**Chapter 5 – Ellie – Meeting Sarah**

I wake up to a gentle hand on my shoulder. "Hey Ellie, Ellie. Get up. We're going now."

Maria's voice sounded gentle even though she shouldn't be. Her fortress is in danger, but she seemed to try and stay calm and in composure. I opened my eyes and see her face staring at me. Her blue eyes matched the color of her blonde hair. Wrinkles covered portions of what used to be a vacant face. How old would I be when I started to get wrinkles? I nodded and began to put away my stuff.

"Been writing?" Maria asked, "Never knew you could write. No offense. Not many kids nowadays know how."

"None taken. Yeah, I don't really know what happened last night. Is it ok if I stopped by the first aid grounds to talk with Sarah? I keep seeing stars on occasion and just black out."

"Hurry up ok? We need to go as soon as possible."

I put away my diary and zipped up my backpack. My eyes were still drowsy from lack of sleep, I wish I could drink that thing called coffee. They say it makes turns you awake when you're tired because it contained something called caffeice? Callene? Fuck. I forgot.

As I looked around, people were just about to leave their rooms and start working. Mist still covered the floor. From the looks of it, it was only about seven in the morning. The spring heat made the soggy weather even worse.

"Fucking hate this weather." I said to myself as I rubbed my wet arm from the mist that covered the floor.

I looked out of the walls of the fortress and I see the waterfall that me and that asshole walked down from. The place where everything changed. The gushing of the waterfall made me think about the times when I almost drowned. I took another deep breathe of the soggy air and went to the first aid grounds. I found Sarah there tending a sick child who was about eight years old. I walked up to her and said, "Hey Sarah, I need to talk to you… About something"

I walk with her to a room and I explained everything. "Ever since… I came back, I keep seeing these weird dots in front of my eyes, like stars. And I don't know, I always black out and I would usually wake up with a headache. Do you know what's happening to me?"

"Hmmm… When was the last time this happened?"

"Last night"

"And when did you wake up?"

"Just now. Not long ago."

"Did you have a headache when you woke up this time?"

"I actually didn't. I've had one before this and I woke up with a headache."

"So this only happened twice?"

"Yeah."

"Young teens and their exaggerations," Sarah laughed and took out this metallic thing, "Look here please. At the light."

I looked at the light and my head started to hurt. "Aw shit. That hurts my head."

Sarah frowned. "That's weird. Your eyes don't seem to dilate."

"Is that a bad thing?"

"Not exactly. It could be anything at this point. It might not even be from the cause of you pass outs. It could be anything at this point."

"What should I do?"

"It'll probably pass. Give it rest when you come back to camp. You'll be fine if you two just scout out the area. Something this bright isn't going to shine in your eyes anyways." Sarah put back the eye equipment and walked back to me. "So! About you and your black outs… Let me check your heart."

She took out this thing that had a Y shape too it. She put her hand on the back of my shirt. "Breathe for me please?" I took a deep breath and she changed positions. I continued to take deep breaths. As time went by, Sarah started to frown and she began to look somewhat concerned. "What is it? What's wrong?" I was getting scared.

"Your heartbeat… It's horrible slow for your age. But… You get enough food and you seem to be in shape. Oh! Have you been through a lot of stress ever since you came back?"

It was obvious, "Yeah" I replied softly.

"Now, now. I'm not going to ask you what happened! You can always fix it by yourself. But if it makes you feel better, I'll be there to help you out. Well obviously there are also other people who can help yo-"

"Yeah I got it. I'll try and stop myself from getting so stressed. Is there any tips?"

"Oh. Well. Close your eyes and breathe. Count to ten and tell yourself, 'everything will be fine'. That works for me when I go through some deep stress!" Sarah smiled. She looked kinda relieved that I'm not going to die.

"Thanks Sarah. I'll keep that in mind." I replied back. I began to leave the grounds when Sarah caught my attention again.

"Is it your dad?" Sarah asked.

What dad? What's she talking about?

"Wait what?" I asked her confusingly.

"You dad. Joel? Is he causing some kind of trouble?"

I stared at her angrily, "He's not my dad, and I sure as hell ain't his daughter."

Sarah stared at me for a second. As if she was pitying me. I barely even knew her. We only knew each other for what? One day?

"He cares about you, you know. I'll talk to him about this."

"He's too stubborn anyways. Do what you think is best. I gotta go Sarah, I'll see you this afternoon."

"Alright. Take care of yourself! Be safe Ellie!" Sarah seems too nice. I never got her age. She looked like she was around her thirties, or she could be in her twenties. Whatever. Doesn't matter.

I ran towards the entrance where Maria was waiting for me. "Ready to go?" Maria asked.

I nodded. We went around the wall to where the hole was and found the truck's tires. "No time to lose. Let's go." I said.

We walked down the path the truck made. I looked back at Maria's fortress.

"We'll be fine Maria. Everything's gonna be alright."

I looked at her and caught her nodding. "Let's go." Maria replied.

It wasn't safe leaving the fortress and entering unknown territory.

It was nice that I was finally able to get some fresh air.

After about a half-hour of scouting, eating granola bars, and water, Maria decided to say something very bold.

"Let's talk about Joel."

I looked ahead. Might as well we talk now, Infected are going to show up sooner or later.

"Fine." I replied.

At least I trust Maria.


	7. Joel - Fireflies

Here's the chapter as promised :)

Cali's pretty fun. Filled with mountains and sinuous roads haha. The highways are fun to drive on especially. We went down from San Jose to Las Angeles. Boy. The highway was on a mountain with the sea right next to us. Fun right? haha.

Hope you like this chapter! :)

I'll try and make a commitment to post + write 1 chapter/day or 2.

I'm trying to make the characters more IC so bear with me. Please remind me if they're starting to go OOC k? Thanks. :D

Don't forget to rate and review! I really need some constructive feedback!

Jelloe

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**Chapter 6 – Joel – Fireflies**

Waking up knowing you're finally safe really is something. Times like these, you'll never know what's going to happen. If only I could just drink some coffee in the morning. That would be nice. God I miss coffee. I sat up and looked around. Ellie left with Maria. I took a deep breath and got up. I walked out to the morning sunlight, people were going about their daily business and my shift was coming soon. Tommy waited for me outside already."Hey you ready?" he asked.

"Yeah." I replied.

Knowing that I told Tommy everything that happened and also including Ellie losing trust in me and is upset didn't make anything better. I tried my best to hide it in but Tommy knew me more than that.

"Don't get things caught up to you big brother. This'll all die down. I promise." Tommy assured.

"Promise comes with trust. C'mon" I began to trudge towards the entrance which was my assigned post.

"Time?" A guard asked.

I nodded, "How's it lookin' out there?"

"Birds chirpin', clear blue day, good sixty degree weather, and some nice fresh forest air. Shit, if only I had a cup of coffee. This would be the best day of my life. Am I right guys?" The guard asked the other guard members. They all agreed without consideration.

"I sure do miss coffee." I murmured to myself.

"Hell, everyone does," The rest of the guards chuckled, "I wouldn't mind if we had coffee. Just a sip would be great right? Well. We probably should get going now, c'mon guys. I'll teach the all of y'all how to shoot. That's if you don't know how to already!"

The crew left and the next group of guards filled in. "Well that's a party eh? Let's not miss the fun while we're on guard." Everyone's too optimistic. Do they know the danger that they could bring if they're not keeping close guard? We could all die.

I glared at Tommy telling him that this is serious. No one is getting in this place. Especially one of those guys Ellie saw from the other side. I looked over, a good seven of them were standing watch. The entrance only had three guards including me and Tommy. We looked ahead and there wasn't anything weird going on. "There's nothing to worry about Joel, we're well guarded. We'll be fine."

"There's always something you have to worry about," I muttered, "You just don't know what you're worried about."

"Guess there's too much worry to actually worry about somethin' am I right?"

"Right there with you little brother." He put up his rifle and began to scout the area.

I chuckled and did the same. We stood post for a good four hours nothing showed up. The guard that was with us did the whole time began to speak breaking the silence, "Hey uh, guys? I actually never used a gun before. Which one of you guys wanna teach me after?"

"Don't worry buddy, I'll teach ya. You'll learn in no time." Tommy continued to look through his scope to look for enemies. "For now you can just scout out the area for us. Hell, we'll let you shoot if we find a deer. How 'bout that?"

"Thanks… My name's Nate by the way…"

"Well you know my name already. He's Joel. My brother." Tommy replied

As they were talking, I began to notice something moving among the bushes. It looked like an infected. I began to look more closely and surprisingly, but it wasn't an infected, it was a human. She was wearing armor and gear, but she didn't look like she was in the army. It's been awhile since we saw the army around. The person was a woman and was slouching as if she was on all fours. She looked weak. "Tommy." I sharply said.

"C'mon. The walls are huge. Infected aren't going to –"

"Tommy." I repeated myself.

"What?"

"Fucking look."

"Bell now. Ring the fucking bell!" Tommy said.

Nate rang the bell that was below us and three guards came. "Woman over there. She's injured." I said while looking in the scope.

"Firefly. She's a firefly." One of the guards said, "Hey! Open the doors, she's hurt."

"No," I demanded. No way in hell are we going to open those doors. What if Marlene sent her? What if she was infected? "She could be infected. Wait 'till she comes. Then we'll see." I ordered.

"Since when were you the leader?" Asked one of the guards.

"He's my fuckin' brother. You got problems with him talkin'?" Tommy said angrily.

The guard went silent and listened to me. The firefly continued walking towards our fortress and I began to identify her face. She was pale. Very pale. Blood and dirt covered her shoulder and one of her arms were gripping it. She continued to slouch and come towards our way, but she seemed distant, as if she was looking past our defenses. "What's your business here?" Tommy asked.

The firefly looked at him and tried to talk. Nothing came out of her mouth. "What do we do Joel?" Tommy asked

"We wait."

"She's badly injured, she's going to die if we don't help her."

"She could be infected. You wanna take that chance and get yourself killed?"

The woman fell face first into the ground and stood still. "God dammit," Tommy muttered. He got off his post and climbed down, "Open the gate! We need the medic! Get her now!" Tommy continued to yell.

"Tommy. No!" I yelled at him, "You're gonna get us killed. Don't do this."

"Open the gates." Tommy demanded.

The guards reluctantly followed his orders and the doors began to creak open. Sarah came with a stretcher. The firefly's clothing was still dampened with blood. "This wound's new." Sarah said taking off her gear. "It's a bullet wound. We need to get her to safety as soon as possible."

We watched as she was being transported into the first aid grounds. "Tommy. You coulda gotten us killed."

"Well I didn't. Sometimes Joel, you just gotta take your chances." Tommy continued to stare at the firefly. "C'mon, back on our post. We still have two hours of this shit."

We climbed back up and didn't expect anything else bad. Luckily, nothing else happened. The two hours seemed to go by fast with the conversations we had. Talking about barbecues, football, bands, and country-side stories really made all of us nostalgic. Plucking away on your guitar on the nice sunny days were the best days. By the time the two hours was over, Ellie and Maria just got back on time. Ellie seemed horribly shaken up and Maria seemed to be the same.

I went up to Ellie and asked, "What'd you see?"

Ellie ignored me. Her skin was abnormally pale. I looked at Maria, but she seemed to be in better condition than Maria. "Go to first aid Ellie." Maria said. I walked up to Maria and asked her what happened.

"Heavily armed. They're using the infected .This isn't good."

What the fuck did she mean by an infected being used? Who were these guys anyways?

"How far?" I asked

"Good two hour walk. Infected everywhere."

"Fuck."

"They're tied to trees."

"Excuse me?" Tied to trees?

"They use them so the rebels can listen if the infected are aggravated or not. If they're aggravated, that means something's up."

"We can just kill them off." I claimed

"Well if it's fucking silent, then the rebels'll know something is definitely up."

"There's gotta be some other way." Tommy said.

"We checked the entire area. Infected are surrounding their base." Maria replied.

"We go in groups of three or two," I replied, "We spread out and surround the base if we all get there."

"Is that the only way?" Tommy asked.

"Any better ideas?" I replied.

"We'll need stealth weapons. Old fashioned bow and arrows should do the trick." Maria said.

"How many do we have?" I asked.

"Enough for one each group of two."

"So that's the plan then." Tommy said.

"Best plan we can think of" I replied.

The attack was simple said than done. "We'll hope for the best then." Maria said.

"Who has hope nowadays?" I said. The all three of us grew silent. "Let's check with the firefly." I remembered.

"What? Firefly?" Maria said astonishingly. Ellie's eyes widened as well.

"Yeah. C'mon. She's badly injured. Gunshot. Don't know if she's gonna make it out alive." I murmured.

We walked to the first aid grounds and found Sarah tending the injured firefly. "How's she holdin' up?" Tommy asked.

"She's badly hurt. But she'll live" Sarah smiled, "You guys saved her just in time. Took out the bullet that hit her. She's lucky to be alive you know."

"What type of doctor are you exactly?" I asked her.

"I… was actually just a university student studying about the human brain, but I read a lot of books about the human body and surgeries about them too. So I guess I was self-taught on all this stuff. Desperate times call for desperate measures right?" Sarah smiled back at me.

I nodded and looked at the sleeping firefly. Ellie walked up to her, touched her head, and said, "She's burning up."

"She'll live. I have the medicine for her. Don't worry Ellie!" Sarah smiled.

"You better live. So I can know the fucking truth." Ellie murmured and glared at me.

"Alright then!" Sarah said immediately after Ellie, "You guys better give her some space to breathe. Be careful out there. Stay safe!"

As we were leaving Sarah added on to what she said. "Oh Joel. I want to talk to you. Do you mind?"

I stayed back and waited for them to leave. I sat down on a chair next to her and asked, "What do you need?"

"It's a about Ellie."

"Oh geez."


	8. Joel - Done This Like a Million Times

**Hey Hey Hey! Finally found WiFi from where I'm living! hahaha**

**This chapter is pretty long and hopefully you guys like it and haven't forgotten about me yet!**

**Don't forget to Rate and Review!**

**I would really like some feedback!**

**Thanks for all the love and support so far!**

**Jelloe**

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**Chapter 7 – Joel – Done This Like a Million Times**

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"She's really upset you know." Sarah said in a worried expression. Like hell she knows about Ellie.

"You know Sarah, I haven't caught that yet. Thanks for telling me. I'll keep that in mind." I said sarcastically. I got up and was about to leave when she said, "She's pretty stressed you know."

"Excuse me?" I asked. I'm not believing that we're having this conversation. I turned my back to her and said, "She's a teenager. They're bodies are changing, don't pull that shi-"

"Her heart could be failing. She might not live as long as you expect if this continues. I need you to take care of this. She could die. It's still too early to determine what her condition is. I need you to tell me what is wrong. This problem only just occurred. We can still help her." Worry began to grow in her face. My chest felt heavy and I began to grow dizzy. I was stunned. I can't lose her. Not like this. I turned around trying to keep a calm composure of myself. "What did you say?"

"Her heart? It's beating very, very slowly. You're the only close person that she has. Since I am a woman… and a doctor, I can probably relate and help her out as well. Do you care to explain what happened?" Sarah continued to look concerned.

I took a deep breath and explained everything. Explaining everything about Marlene and her being Ellie's surrogate mother, allowing the surgery that could lead to Ellie's death. I also told her about how the vaccine could have failed. Sarah looked at me analyzing my face as I was talking. "You happy now?" I said after explaining.

"So you lied to keep her safe. Understandable. Killing her surrogate mother? Not cool. Marlene takes the risk of making the vaccine by killing one of her best friend's daughter? That's just pure evil. Yeah. Ellie's in denial. She knows what you did is justified but can also be unjustified. What I would recommend for you? Give her time. Show her the bright things in life and slowly grow that relationship back. You know why? Look at us Joel. Look at her. She probably never knew what a good life was. Show her things that you did back before all this commotion. She'll understand how important her life is. When was the last time she felt relaxed other than sleeping?"

"We were always on the run. We couldn't afford being-"

"Exactly. She's always been on the run. Look at this place. This is like home now. Teach her fun things – hobbies like sports, activities, games. Et cetera. The things you do daily affects the personality of the individual."

"Is this conversation over yet?

"This is for the good of both of you guys."

"Whatever." I got up and was about to leave when she started to talk again. "Oh and Joel?"

"What the hell do you want now?" I moved my head backward.

"Be more positive in front of her. She looks up to you. She learns from you. I've noticed that."

"Being positive isn't something you can afford nowadays."

"Just try."

"Yeah sure." I replied.

I closed the room and took a deep breath. That was too much to take in. I guess I should just give it a try. The sun was still out, glaring down at our fortress. The spring sun shined bright on my face. I took a deep breath and began to look for Ellie. Kids were around playing tag and hide and seek. Ellie was too young for them. As I looked around, I saw Tommy teaching Nate about how to shoot a gun. Maria was in the prep room analyzing the map and ordering some free guards around. "Hey," I said walking up to Maria, "You've seen Ellie around?"

"Hell, how would I know? She's been everywhere ever since she came here. Why?" Maria said.

"When you find her can you come find me? I need to talk to her."

"Ok first of all, what's the matter with both of you?" Maria glared at me and pursed her lips.

"Go ask Tommy." I left and walked away continuing to look for Ellie.

"She's not that mad at you, you know. She just doesn't know if she should trust you or not. Killing a woman that she cared about is pretty serious."

"Oh so you do know?" I turned around and glared at her.

"So what if I do?" Maria stood her ground and glared back.

"I don't have time for this." I turned back around and left.

"When you find her, you better fucking thank me." Maria yelled back at me. What the hell was she talking about?

After another half-hour of searching, I finally found Ellie sitting against the outside wall of our bedroom writing in her diary. "There you are." I said.

"What?" She asked quickly putting her diary away.

Thinking about what Sarah said, I decided to listen to her. I closed my eyes and tried to smile. "You want to go take a hike?" I continued to keep the forced smile on and looked at her.

"Fine," She got up, "Let's go." As soon as she walked by me I put down the smile. I never liked to smile.

I turned around and followed Ellie. She was waiting outside our little room. "C'mon let's go" Ellie said. I grabbed my backpack supplied with the same items throughout our journey and left our room.

We left the fortress and went towards the woods. I avoided the west part knowing that the rebels had their camp setup there.

I decided to let her decide where to go. "Where you wanna go?" I asked.

I noticed Ellie's face a little bit surprised. "Uh, let's see," She looked around and then said, "Let's go hiking there." Ellie pointed at a forest. "Second time going hiking through the forest with you." Ellie said.

"Alright. You can lead the way this time." Christ. This is hard.

"Wait what? Seriously?" Ellie asked.

I nodded, "Yeah. Seriously. Still gotta be careful though. Don't know what would be roaming around in that fore-"

"Got it! Let's go!" Ellie smiled and led the way. It's been awhile since I've seen her smile like that. A full smile. Not just a smirk.

As we neared the forest, Ellie began to look around. The trees were budding from spring, the grass was just starting to grow green. Flowers were opening up to the warm spring air. Ellie saw a bush of blueberries and asked, "Wait, this is where blueberries come from?"

"Yeah," I said, "You can pick some and eat 'em if you'd like. They won't harm ya."

Ellie plucked a blueberry from the bush and ate it. Her face contorted and spat it out. "Shit, that's sour."

"They're probably not ripe yet," Joel replied, "You like blueberries?"

"Yeah. They're super sweet." Ellie began to walk again and smelled a blue and white flower. She got back up and took a deep breath. "C'mon, I wanna see more!"

Ellie jogged through the forest and asked repeatedly what things were. I answered my best knowing that I'm not the best at wildlife. "Now don't be touching that Ellie." I pointed at a 3 leaved plant lying on the ground.

"What's that? Just looks like a regular plant to me."

"It's poison ivy."

"Poison? Would I like… Die or something if I touched it?" She asked.

"Not exactly. It'll make your skin itch like hell."

"I thought forests were always safe."

"They sure can be peaceful. Yeah." I said looking up at the tree covered sun, glinting down at my face. The blue sky and clouds really made the forest unique and peaceful. Been awhile since I took an actual hike.

"Woah! What animal is that?" Ellie pointed at a squirrel.

"You seriously don't know what a squirrel is?"

"Squirrel… Nope! Never seen 'em before."

"Oh come on. They're everywhere." I said to her. The squirrel curiously looked at her and began to move towards her. "Ellie, those things can be dangerous if it bites you. Don't let it bite you now." Sarah had rabies once.

"I won't." Ellie replied while opening up her hand. The squirrel moved towards her and paused along the way towards her hand. I picked an acorn and gave it to her. "Palm out. Don't let it bite you."

"Yeah got it." She put the acorn on her hand and beckoned the squirrel towards it. The squirrel leaped onto Ellie's hand, took the acorn, and ran away. "That's so fuckin' cool," She said to herself, "Well not as cool as those long-necked things." She said to me.

"Giraffes" I said to her.

After another hour of hiking, we decided to head back to Tommy and Maria's camp. We trudged along the path we walked through and looked around the forest. "Hey Joel?" Ellie said looking up.

"What?" I asked her

She stopped and turned around, "Look, I know that… I've been acting kind of like a bitch lately to you… and I know that you're worried about me. Marl-" Ellie paused, "She was like a mother to me you know? And I've grown to trust her-"

"Yeah I got it." I said to her. "We need to move, it's getting late."

"Look, me and you have been through a lot more things than me and her. I trust you more than her, but just promise me. That all you said about killing her, and all you said about her killing me for a cure… Promise that all that's true. I know that you lied. To keep me safe. Let's get all this over with," Ellie looked at me desperately, "You're the person that I trust the most."

"I promise." I said sincerely, "If you still don't believe me, the firefl-"

Ellie hugged me before I finished, "Yeah. We'll see. I trust you. Thanks for sticking with me."

"So why'd you stop pouting on me?" I asked

"Maria."

"Typical." I chuckled as I hugged her back, "We gotta move. C'mon, lead the way."

Ellie stopped hugging me and we headed back to the fortress. As we walked closer to the fortress, we began to hear screaming and yelling. I turned to Ellie and we stared at each other. "You lead the way." Ellie said.

"Stick close to me." I replied while taking out my pistol from my backpack. Ellie did the same thing as well. We went to the entrance but no one opened the wall. "What the fuck is happening?" Ellie said.

"C'mon. The hole." I ran along the wall and moved to the western side of the fortress. The wall didn't look fixed but had a wooden slab that fell off. We began to hear infected and crouched down. "Fucking rebels. We can't live here anymore."

"Close to me." I said.

We crouched down and went through the hole. Surprisingly enough, the infected weren't inside. I threw a bottle just to make sure but no infected were in the abandoned factory. We stood up and saw infected and humans sprawled dead on the floor. "What the fuck happened." I said to myself.

We opened the factory door and ran outside. Infected were running everywhere; in the homes biting the last of the civilians who were yelling. Kids were sprawled dead on the floor as well. Blood were in puddles from the dead civilians, pieces of skin were seen in some of the puddles.

"Oh my god" Ellie said, "That was Max…" A young adult was staring off to oblivion, lifeless, and pale. "Look. They're all over there."

I caught a glimpse of the people in a room. Tommy crouched outside and beckoned us towards the survivors. I looked for a route but there wasn't any way for us to get through because of the infected everywhere. The only choice is to kill. I looked at the supplies in my backpack and took out two shivs. Ellie took out her knife and followed me from behind. A runner was standing in front of me covering his face and grunting. I grabbed his neck and strangled him until he stopped thrashing. We hid next to a turned over table and I looked over to scan the area. Two clickers were in the way of our path. I looked to Ellie who looked back in her calm composure. I crouched down and took out the clicker with my shiv. I ran to the next cover and hid from the infected. As soon as I was about to leave from cover, Ellie patted me on the shoulder and pointed off to my left. It was Nate. He stared at me with fear and pointed at his leg. It was bleeding. I looked back at Ellie and whispered, "He got bit. We can't do anything." Ellie's face saddened, looked at the floor, and took a deep breath. I turned my head back to Nate and shook my head sideways sadly. Nate stared at me and he began to cry. He took something out of his pocket. It was a gun. He turned the safety off and stood up. Nate shot the clicker in front of us and also shot other infected behind us as well. "GO!" Nate screamed.

"Shit." I said to myself. We ran to the room where everyone was sheltered hoping not to see Nate getting torn to bits. We go to the room and the door slammed behind us. "Where the fuck were you?" Tommy screamed.

"Enjoying our old life," I said to him, "We went hiking."

"Who the fuck has time for that? Especially you. Hell, you don't even bother doing that shit anymore. Why in God's name would you do that during these times?"

"Reckon we might as well since I thought this was some type of fucking safe place." I glared at Tommy.

"You've changed Joel." Tommy said silently

"Yeah? Well people change for the good of others." I glanced at Sarah who looked back at me with a hint of happiness in her face. I stood up and asked, "How many?"

"No idea."

I leaned against the wall next to a window and looked out. Nate was still standing up firing as more infected came. He began to fumble for ammo and he put the gun against his head and shot himself in the head. Ellie was on the other side of the wall and saw everything. She's seen worse things. As for the parents and children who caught a glance, some grimaced and others began to cry. Ellie stared at where Nate was, then looked at the floor, and kicked a small rock. "Poor soul, he was a natural." Tommy said. Kids were in the back trying not to cry and I pursed my lips looking at the backs of the infected tearing at Nate's dead skin.

"How many guards dead?" I asked.

"Two," Tommy replied, "Including Nate. I only taught him once. He probably just killed five infected. Would have been a great guard. Five survivors dead or hiding; two children – Sam and Kate, three adults – Emma, Julia, and Max." Tommy looked down. Survivors were crying, trying not to create attention.

Little kids were holding onto their parents, face dug into their pant leg or belly, whimpering and sniffling. The room felt somber, candles were lit, the walls were dirty covered with dirt and who knows what, the floor was wooden and dirty with patches of blood and black colored stains. I walked upstairs with Ellie following me, guards were sitting there staring at the dirty floor – some with guns. The floors creaked and whined each time I took a step, telling me that there was already enough people up on the roof. I turned around and told Ellie to go back downstairs. I looked out the window – the infected were still outside walking around and grunting. There was a good ten or fifteen of them only out in the this small street. I walked toward Tommy and sat down. "So. What's the plan now?" I asked

"Hell, how would I know? Firing's too risky. What's your plan?" replied Tommy

"Do we even have a god damn choice?" I replied, "Where the hell's Maria?"

"Locked herself in the armory. We tried to get as many guns, but this was all we got from her. Some guards upstairs have guns as well."

I saw a small pile of pistols, a shotgun, and two rifles. "How much ammo we got?" I asked.

"Hell, barely any."

"Well you and your guards better make those shots count."

I turned around to Ellie and I nodded. She nodded back.

She knew the drill.

I knew the drill.

"You keep us covered," I said, "We're going outside."

"Just you two?

"Just us two." I answered, "If the area's clear, have the guards come out. Silently."

Tommy nodded, "You be careful out there big brother."

I nodded and we opened the door to the cool afternoon air.

"We'll be fine. Done this like a million times right?" Ellie took a deep breath and crouched down with me.

We don't know what else is out there in this safe haven, but luck doesn't seem to run out on us.

Let's just keep it that way.


	9. Ellie - Hiking With Infected

**What's up guys! I'm back from Cali! Between you and me, I already miss my big bro lol. Sucks without having him around in our home anymore :(. Well, this chapter was kinda rough for me. I still have jet lag since I JUST CAME BACK TODAY AND PULLED AN ALL NIGHTER ON THE AIRPLANE. I wrote this story up in the sky so think of this one as a special :) loljk bear with me if i made any grammar mistakes. I am one tired man right now lol. So this chapter basically takes place where Ellie and Maria go hiking to check out the rebel's base. So... It takes place during the Fireflies chapter!**

**So without further ado...**

**Chapter 8 – Ellie – Hiking With Infected**

* * *

**"**So where do you want to start?" Maria asked

"Dunno," I replied, "You already told me about him and his wife Jane… They were divorced right?"

"Yeah. Right after the baby. It was harsh on him." Maria looked down and seemed discouraged. As if he didn't live up to her expectations. "You know he went through hell. He saved my brother."

"Yeah I know all about that." I answered. I looked out in the distance as we followed the trail of the pale man's truck tires. "I can trust you enough right?" I asked.

"Of course you can." Maria turned and gave me a reassuring warm smile.

Trust is hard to gain nowadays. It's hard to trust people if you just met them. Or If they lie. Trust could have gotten me killed back at Dave's. Thank god he's dead. I continued looking down the muddy path, dirtying my sneakers as I walked with Maria. The morning air was still present allowing mist to still lurk around our area. My dampened clothes and wet skin made me feel so uncomfortable and gross.

"So why'd he lie to me?" I asked her candidly.

Maria took a deep breath and said, "Tommy told me he's change a lot."

"So what difference does that make?"

"Change is hard to come by. Tommy knows that if Joel changes, it's for someone that is very special for him."

"Ok? So who's this person?"

"You." Maria said simply.

"Why would he change for me?"

"Because you're like his daughter. And he's like you're dad." Maria said softly

"Like hell he is. Dads shouldn't be telling lies to their chil-"

"He told that lie to protect you."

"I don't need to be protected"

"Parents are known to be protective."

"He killed Marlene."

"He killed Marlene to keep you safe." Maria began to pick up her voice, "Can't you understand that he's changed, he's more caring, and he's now different than he was. You seriously don't trust him at all? All the things he said to you? Look at yourself. You're anger is taking over. He's protected you all along. From the beginning, all he wanted were some shitty guns. But by the end of your journey? He gained something more important than that, and that was you. Don't tell me that he doesn't care about you because he would have definitely traded the guns for your life. He SAVED you. Ellie, he thinks of you as his daughter. Tommy once told me, you act just like Sarah. I bet Joel should have said the same. You cannot deny that you two have bonded in this journey. Don't tell me that. He loves you Ellie."

I stared at her, shocked. We stopped and I stared at the ground and kicked the mud. "So he really does care about me." I knew right from the beginning that he wasn't like the others that I knew.

"He's never abandoned you. Before he met you, he wouldn't even care if someone were to request help from him. He'd only do it the other individual is willing to trade him something. This journey Ellie, did he get anything from it? Does he regret any of it? No. Because he thinks of you as his daughter."

"How do you know this stuff?" I asked

"When you go home, I guarantee that you will notice."

I stopped walking and I looked down and kicked a rock, "You wanna know something about me?"

"Shoot."

"Back when my mom was by my side, I always wondered if there would be people like her. Someone who wouldn't abandon me. My dad left my mom and abandoned me. Then it happened. My mother abandoned me as well. I was only six at the time and I still remember that day exactly. I'm fifteen now. Everyone abandoned me. Marlene was always by my side when she was around… but she never really was with me the whole time. I guess you are right. Joel is different from the others. But that doesn't mean that he had to kill Marlene."

"He was left no choice."

"How the fuck would you know?" Anger began to flow through me. My eyes and nose flared and my mouth was pursed. "All these things, you could also be bullshitting me too."

"Ellie."

"No. Shut up. Like hell you know about all this shi-"

"Ellie. Quiet."

"What?" I stopped talking, closed my eyes, and began to listen. The trees rustled in the morning winds birds were chirping, the smell of fresh watery air consumed me. But I heard it.

The sound of a truck was headed our way. Maria looked at me and we ran to our right, climbing a hill. We laid on the soil on top of the hill and looked down at the road. A big truck was being driven down the road we were just walking on. When the coast was clear, I stood up and we heard it.

_-Click Click Click-_

"Clickers?" I asked.

As we moved on deeper in the woods, the clicking sound grew horribye loud – as if ten or twenty were all clicking at the same time. "What the fuck is happening?" I asked Maria.

"How the hell would I know?" Maria asked.

"Stay crouched and hidden. Let's go." I said to Maria, "Unless you're more experienced than me, I guess I'll follow you."

"You're the expert." Maria crouched behind me and took out her gun.

"That's too loud. Do you have a knife or something?"

Maria nodded and took out a small pocketknife. "Let's go." I said

As we walked the clicking of the clickers were endless. We finally found a clicker who was standing in place which was not what a clicker would have been doing.

Clickers should be moving.

As soon as I got close enough, I noticed the clicker was tied to a tree by a rope. Maria patted me on the shoulder and pointed to my left. The rebel group was just on our left. We went higher in elevation to check on the inside of their base. The place was well sheltered and had crops growing inside similar to ours. Not only were there people growing crops, there were also kids and women as well. I looked at Maria, "Holy shit. They're just like our home too."

Maria didn't talk and stared off into the rebel's base.

_-__**CLICK CLICK CLICK-**_

One of the clickers heard where we were and began to thrash at our direction. Within five seconds, almost all the clickers around us began to grow noisy as hell. "We need to move." Maria continued to stare at their base, "Ellie." She turned to my direction.

"We've got to warn the others. They need to know what hap-"

_-Bang -_

A patch of grass exploded next to my leg. "Oh fuck. C'mon! We gotta get the hell outta here!" I screamed and yanked on Maria's hand, grunting and bringing me and her up onto our feet. We sprinted as fast as we could over every broken log or tree branch, praying that the bullets wouldn't shoot us. Bullets whizzed past us – hitting trees, twigs, dirt, and rocks. "Fuck!" One of the bullets were aimed at me and nearly missed. The bullet cut my face and I felt blood creeping down my check. My heart began to pump faster and faster, but _it_ started to happen again. Stars began to show up in front of my eyes. "Not now." I said to myself.

We continued to sprint as my eyesight grew began to waver. My legs felt numb and bendy like the Italian food me and Joel ate in cans. "Over here. Let's go!" I yelled to her and we dove to our left inside a bush with small red berries. We laid down chest first and that's the time where I blacked out. The last thing I heard was Maria patting me on the shoulders.

Waking up sucked. My head hurt and I grumbled. "Uhh… Wah?" I looked around and stood up, but a hand pushed me back down. Maria covered my mouth and put her finger on her lips telling me to stay quiet. Her eyes were wild and she had dirt covered all over her. I looked at myself to notice the same thing had occurred to me. Mud was covered all over my hair, face, shirt, and jeans. Maria unclenched my mouth. "Next thing you pull that shit on me… I swear to GOD!" She whispered trying to keep quiet.

"How long was I out?" I asked. My head had a swelling pain and my eyes still caught glimpses of stars. "Fuck my head."

"You have been out for a good hour. What exactly is going on with you? I saw no wounds! Except for your face."

"We'll talk about it when we get back." I said

"What if that happens again? When those rebels ACTUALLY find us? What if-"

"It's not gonna happen again." I got up and began to walk back to our home. "Ellie. I'm worried about you."

"Don't be. I can take care of myself." I continued to look off down the path hoping for a glimpse of our home, but nothing showed up for another half-hour. So I decided to bring up Joel again.

"I'm not mad at Joel anymore." I said randomly

"Well go tell him that."

"I just don't think that what I did was worth it. Marlene wasn't a good person in the long-run anyways."

"Good to know you guys are back together again." She said sarcastically.

"Hey fuck you man, I just saved your ass back there. If it wasn't for me-"

"Fuck me? You had me worried about you. I thought you were going to die!"

"Well I'm not." I glared at her.

"I seriously don't have time for this." Maria walked ahead of me and I looked passed her to notice we were nearing our base.

"What is wrong with you?" I caught up to her.

"Nothing is wrong."

"Then what the fuck just happened back there?"

Maria laughed hysterically. "I guess everyone has a child in their hands to worry about. Everyone but us." Maria walked ahead of me and got to the entrance first with me following her. As I got back, Joel went up to me and asked, "What happened?" I stared at Maria and Joel left right after. I took a deep breath, went to me and Joel's room, and began to write in my diary.

* * *

_Dear Diary,_

_ Today was the craziest day I've ever had for a long time. Me and Maria talked about Joel and I guess I kind of forgive him. Maria wasn't that great of a person to me anyways. She was always too busy caring about her fireflies. The rebel group had infected that were used as a defense mechanism. We almost didn't make it out there, but luck was with us today. I passed out again and Maria got pretty worried and pissed off at me. What a baby. I don't know if my black outs are going to be more frequent, but an asshole once told me that things happen for a reason. I wonder how I'll make up with Joel now that I forgive him. I'm always scared that he'll leave me one day. That I'll just be left alone. Out there. I don't know if he thinks of me as his daughter. I'm not sure if I think so either. But things change for a reason as well right? –_

* * *

I was interrupted by a click of the doorknob. Joel walked in and I could tell that he forced a smile as he said, "You want to go take a hike?"

"Fine," I got up and quickly put away my diary into my backpack. "Let's go." I walked by him and left the room, waiting for him outside. The afternoon air was crisp with colorful flame colors that were patched in the sky. I took a deep breath and closed my eyes. So this is as close to home as it gets. I looked back at where Joel was and called back for us to go. He grabbed his backpack and he left the room. I stopped leaning against the wall and we walked past the gate entrance. "Where you wanna go?" He asked me.

That's weird. He's never said that to me. Ever. "Uh, let's see," I looked around and saw the forest – The place that I loved the most. "Let's go hiking there." I pointed to the left where the forest was, "Second time going hiking through the forest with you." I said as I moved back behind him. "Alright," Joel turned around and surprisingly said, "You can lead the way this time."

I couldn't help but smile, but just to make sure, I said, "Wait what? Seriously?"

Joel nodded his head and said, "Yeah. Seriously. Still gotta be careful though. Don't know what would be roaming around in the fore-"

"Got it! Let's go!" I smiled and jogged right back him. This is going to be the first time I ever lead the way. I guess Joel's me and I'm him today. I couldn't help but laugh as I jogged through the forest. Knowing that Joel's giving me a chance to do something I've never done… Damn that's the best feeling you'll ever get.

Thanks Joel.

For not giving up on me.

You really are like a dad.


	10. Ellie - Paradise

**Oh Man... I gotta say. It was tough writing this chapter. I actually got kinda sad lol...**

**Thanks to all you guys who stayed with me! I really appreciate it! This is my first fanfiction and boy, I can kinda tell that my writing is kinda sorta improving? Looking back at my first chapter, I noticed that it was crap compared to my later chapters hahaha... So this story now takes place back to where they came back from their hike! Tons of action and sadness will be involved. Hopefully it won't depress any of you guys after hahha**

**Thanks to all you people who stood with me on my FIRST CHAPTER. it was so crap haha...**

**Hoping for the reviews... If you guys like my story, feel free to favorite/follow!**

**Thanks once again!**

**Jelloe**

**So without further ado...**

**Chapter 9 – Ellie – Paradise**

* * *

"We'll be fine. Don't this like a million times right?" I took a deep breath as I crouched down with Joel.

"A million times doesn't cut it." Joel murmured.

"Well I guess it all comes down to good ol' luck am I right?"

"You bet." Joel began to move out of the small shack and slowly crept his way from building to building – praying that we don't get caught by a clicker or runner.

I followed him, mimicking all his movements and his tactics on evasion. Within thirty minutes, he already took down three clickers - stabbing them with his shivs and listening to their clicking coming to a stop. The thrashing of it would cease knowing that they were dead. I myself, even took down two runners with my switchblade. Sneaking up on them always made me want to throw up. You never know their response – If they're going to turn around or not. But the smell was the worst: the acrid, rotten egg smell always made me want to gag. Their blood was no longer red, but it was black. Right when I took down my second one, my arms and sleeves blackened with runner goo. Two buildings were on the street, and we knew that we had to go inside them when the time came.

"I think we're done here." Joel said with a big sigh. He grunted silently as he stood up. "Time to head on into the buildings."

I nodded and followed right behind him. He then paused again and turned around, "Go and tell the guards to come out. Silently. Tell them to stay put outside and keep us cover when we're in there."

"On it." I began to run back towards the shack to tell the guards. As I reached the small shack, guards began to stand up.

"Oh man. There were more than expected." I wasn't sure, but my expressions told them that we might be fucked.

"How many were on this first street?" One of the guards asked.

"Joel already killed three clickers. He killed so many runners that I couldn't even count. I even killed two runners."

Parents began to sigh to show their loss of hope. I saw the children with their parents – their faces dug into their parent's pant leg really made me feel somber. I turned around and began to walk. "We got this."

That was a lie. I was totally about to shit my pants. I jogged to where Joel was and prepared myself to enter my first room. "Ready?" Joel asked.

"Yeah." Even though that was also a lie, what else would I say?

"Let's get a move on." Joel took out his shotgun and cocked it.

I took out my switch blade as well as my knife. From now on, I knew that I had to watch my own back as well. We went through the same protocols – Check downstairs before going upstairs. Joel and I crouched behind a sofa – trying to figure out where all the infected are on the first floor. His eyes were closed and concentrated. I kept silent as I looked around for a hint that the bottom floor is safe.

Joel got up and nodded. We slowly walked upstairs, praying that we wouldn't get jumped by any of the infected. The stairs made a creaking sound as we took each step. The silence consumed us and just made us even more anticipated to what would be upstairs. My breathing grew heavier and heavier. I clenched my dulled switchblade and tried to peek over Joel's shoulder. The floors continued to creak even as we left the flight of stairs. This house has reached its limit. Joel moved as silently as he could to the nearest wall and leaned against it. I did the same as well. He quickly looked past the wall and slowly began to creep into the room, but nothing was there. That was until we heard a whimpering sound.

"M-m-mom?" A little boy was hid inside of a cabinet.

"Oh God. Sam," I looked at him astonishingly, "You're alright."

"Where's my mom…?" Sam was whimpering, trying to keep calm. But you could tell that he's been crying for a while already. The bloodshot eyes and tears still traced his eyes and face. Sam's body was shaking uncontrollably.

"Hey kid. We're going to get you out ok?" Joel tried his best to soothingly convince Sam, "We're not going to hurt yo-"

"Is my mom dead?" Sam's eyes widened

"What's your mother's name?"

"Her name's… Emma." The little boy snorted and swallowed, "Is she alive?"

I looked at Joel and whispered, "She's either missing or dead. What do we do?"

"Hey kid," Joel pointed a finger, "Where'd you get that blood?"

"I… Don't know… But is my Mom alri-"

Joel ran up to him and snatched his hand without hesitation. Sam began to scream and squeal trying to let go of his hand. Joel examined his hand and arm meticulously, but he didn't let go.

"Fuck." Joel grabbed the child by the back and pushed him down onto the ground, "You're bit." Joel stared at me wild eyed. My mouth opened a little with shock as he showed me the bitten wound. No doubt that it was a bite mark: just like the one I had. Right on his wrist.

"I want my mom!" Sam began to thrash around as Joel pinned him to the ground, "I want my mom! I want my mom!" Sam cried and cried, whimpering, and desperate. "Please tell me she's safe. Please!"

"We don't know kid." Joel said softly. Joel's face seemed to soften. His lips were pursed and it was as if he was trying to hold back tears. He avoided Sam's eyes who were wild and desperate for one of us to give an actual answer.

"I don't want her to die. I don't want her to die." Sam continued to whimper.

"I'm sorry kid," Joel began to raise his gun, "I want you to picture something for me. Close your eyes."

I stared at Joel. Was he really going to do it? What would I be doing right now?

"Picture yourself… Playing with your friends and family." Joel stared at Sam's back as he continued to speak.

Sam stopped thrashing around.

Joel really was going to do it. I need to say something. Quick. He can't die. Not like this.

"You guys are having the best day of your life. All the bad people are gone. It's safe to finally go outside and play. Imagine that you finally got to explore more of this world."

Joel looked down at his crouched knees. And put his gun up. There really is nothing that I could do. He really was bit. He's just a child.

"You got to eat as many things as you wanted. You didn't have to eat all the bad food."

He continued to hold his gun right behind the child's head.

"I want you to imagine that place. Would you be happy?" Joel whispered in a soothing voice towards Sam. This wasn't Joel at all. But then again, he never did have to deal with a five year old getting bitten.

"Yeah. My mom and dad are there. My friends too… Kate, Richard, Luke, Eric… We're all playing tag!" Sam giggled a little bit, "And Richard's poking Kate! Kate got cooties!"

"You want to go there right?" Joel asked. His voice began to grow more silent.

"Yeah. Yeah I would."

"You can."

"How?"

"You're thinking about it right now right? That means you're already there. You're in paradise."

"I am?"

"Yes you are."

"That's so cool…"

-BANG-

Sam grunted and his muscles seemed to have twitched before the bullet reached his head. I grimaced and looked down. I took a deep breath and thought to myself, "Everything's going to be ok…"

I counted to ten and opened my eyes. Joel was still in the same position as before and he closed his eyes.

"C'mon" I said to him, "Death is something we see almost every day."

"Not like this Ellie."

"I know, but we need to keep moving."

"Just give me a second."

"Got it." I turned around and walked down. The creaking floors seemed to have been louder than ever. Each step I took made me feel miserable. As I reached the first floor, I noticed that we haven't even checked out the home yet. I looked around, exploring the kitchen as I waited for Joel's return.

"Wait a second… How did he get bit…?" My eyes widened as I began to think more. "If his mom is missing and he kept on wondering if she was alive… Oh fuck."

I ran around the room trying to catch a glimpse of a body. I ran around the house and quickly looked around.

"Is anyone here…?"

I heard it. I quickly sprinted towards the voice and found a woman laying down against a wall of the living room. "Oh my god." I quickly ran up to her but she put her hand in front of my body not allowing me to go any further.

"Don't come any closer." It was Emma.

"Emma. What…?" I looked around the living room and found a dead runner laying down face first onto the floor.

"That thing attacked my son. I can't let that happen." Emma grinned, "He's alright right? I told him to hide."

I paused to look at her. Her face was pale and blood was soaked everywhere on her shirt. Her eyes grew weaker each moment and I knew she wasn't going to last any longer.

"Yeah I'm a mess aren't I?" Emma forced another grin, "Sam… He's safe… right?"

I stared at her stunned. I had to make a choice. Do I lie? I began to panic inside my head. Then I finally took the guts to say something that made me feel comfortable.

"He's… Already in a safe place. You don't need to worry." I tried to smile as I stared at Emma. Her soft, maternal face made me choke as I talked. The weak mother finally closed her eyes.

"That's good… That's good… I know what you're going to do to me. Just don't be leaving a mess for my son to see."

I forced back my tears but my nose was clogged. I tried my best not to show it, "Don't worry. He's already in a safe place."

I took out my gun hidden underneath the back of my shirt. I took it out and aimed at her head. I closed my eyes, and let my finger pull back.

_-BANG-_

I had my eyes remain closed, trying to hold back the tears. I clenched my eyes, but I finally began to sense myself crying. My chest grew heavy and I sat down. I didn't dare open my eyes to see Emma. I'll never forget that soft face. The face that accepted her death with a welcoming smile. She was willing to die just for her child. I never knew a person like that.

"Hey, hey, hey. It's going to be alright. They're both in a better place now." Joel walked in and knelt down in front of me.

"I just wish that I had a mother like that. I just feel so lonely sometimes. I miss my mom. I miss Riley. I miss Marlene." Tears continued to flow through my eyes.

"I know baby, I know." Joel hugged me, "It's going to be fine. You can let it out. We have some time. It's alright."

I chocked on my saliva and I took some deep breaths. After about three minutes, I finally got up. "You gonna be ok now?" Joel got up as well.

I took a deep breath and I nodded. "Let's go."

We walked outside to see the guards greet us, "Hey you guys ok?"

"Been better, but we'll live" Joel answered for me.

"We checked the other house. No infected. We found Kate and Julia. They're safe. Max was found dead over by the factory, but we still can't find Emma and Sam. They in that house?"

Joel paused for a few seconds and lightly said, "Yeah."

The guards seemed to notice what was going on and didn't talk any further.

"We need to find Maria." Joel broke the long silence and decided to take action.

"We already found her." The guard said.

"Where is she?"

"Bitchin' at Tommy for ditching her." Some of the guards reluctantly snickered. Joel joined in and everyone started to chuckle a little bit.

"Bet they're gonna make up and get a good night's sleep if you know what I'm saying" The guard added on.

"I bet they will." Joel snickered for the last time and dropped it. "Ellie, let's go. Guards should go back to post. Guess we'll need a patrol down at the abandoned factory. No one comes in. You guys got that?"

All the guards nodded and began to assemble.

"Gee what time is it?" Joel looked down at his broken watch and sighed, "I need batteries."

I looked at him and looked back down at my feet as we walked to our room. I'm pretty much done for the day. Me and Joel walked silently back to our house and finally settled in. I began to write in my diary.

* * *

_Dear Diary,_

_ Have you ever thought what it would be like to have a mother that really cared about you? Yeah me neither… Today Emma and Sam passed away, but Emma didn't seem so afraid when I told her that he's in a "safe" place. It was like she was happy to die. Sadly, Sam died as well. But I'd really like to just disappear from this world once in a while. Just enjoy all the little things in life… I think that's what they said right? I really don't want to write anything for today. Joel was able to comfort me after I shot her. I'll never forget that warm smiling face right before I shot her. I never will forget it. Never._

* * *

"-Ellie? Ellie." Joel seemed to be trying to get my attention for some time. "Hey baby girl, you ok?"

Joel sat up next to me and seemed to have a concerned look on his face. I quickly closed my diary and put it away. I nodded back. "I understand what you're going through. A young girl like you shouldn't have so many friends and family that disappeared." I don't know what's he's trying to do. He's pretty bad at comforting and consoling people. But I acknowledged his effort and courage. "Yeah." I quickly replied, "I'm tired. Can we just go to bed?"

Joel nodded and got up. He closed the lights and we got into bed. The solid floor made my back ache. But I've been through worse. The sleeping bag helped and my pillow was soft. The night was silent and I quickly glanced outside to see guards on post. This was some day. I laid back down and began to think over what happened today. Sam… Emma… They're relationship. I really wish I had a relationship like that with my mother. I never even got to see her face. I sighed and moved around in my sleeping bag. I couldn't sleep. That mysterious pale man… I know that he has something to do with this. Why are they even trying to attack us? They have their own group to take care of. I really wanted to talk to Joel about something.

"Joel? You still awake?"

"Sure am" Joel replied

"Have you… ever just wanted to escape? From all this? Go back to how you used to live?"

Joel paused for a moment. "Boy, it would sure be nice."

I grinned a little bit, "I guess I'll never experience that will I?"

Joel sighed, "This world used to be so great. I wish you could see it like before. I really do."

"I really want to escape from this world."

"Really? And how will you do that?"

I sighed, "I was wondering…"

"What is it?" Joel asked

I took a deep breath and said, "If you'd teach me how to play swim."

"Oh yeah. You can't swim."

"So yes or no?" I asked.

"Sure. We can start tomorrow."

"Alright then." I said.

I started to shiver. "I fucking hate water Joel."

"I know that sweetheart." He paused for a moment, "You know what else you need to learn?"

"What?"

"Guitar."

"Ok Joel," I laughed, "let's make a deal. If I sing for you with the guitar, then you sing for me on the guitar. How about that?"

Joel chuckled, "In your dreams kid"

"Oh come on! I've never sang before. Look… _aaaaaa,_" I tried to sing. I don't know any song. Looks like Joel has to teach me, "I don't even know any songs!"

"Knock it out Ellie, people might hear you" Joel said.

"Then accept the deal!"

"Fine. But if I just see a peep of laughter, I'm not gonna sing for you ever again."

"Sweet." I smiled.

"Alright time to get some rest Ellie. We're swimming tomorrow."

Oh great. Water.

"Then guitar?" I asked.

"Then guitar." Joel answered.

"Alright goodnight Joel."

"Goodnight Ellie."

I laid on my back. I really enjoy talking to Joel.

After today, I know that Joel really does care about me. Maria really was right.

Joel is my father

And I sure as hell am his daughter.

He's never given up on me

We'll always be together

No matter what.

We'll live

And we'll survive.


	11. Final Update But the story continues

**Hey guys. To keep things nice and simple, we had relatives over and my sleeping pattern is all messed up. Been going to sleep late and waking up at 1... LOL. I'm just getting into the habit on waking up at 10. First off, I'd like to say thanks to all of you guys for reading, reviewing, and favoriting. Kuntikintae, Crimsonbutterfly, Tabi, Michael... You guys really have helped me out! Sadly, my first few chapters were... *ahem* excuse my language but... Complete shit! Many of the character were OOC and I'd like to say that I'd love you guys to pm or review if I'm starting to make them OOC. I'm planning on starting over with the next series. "The Better Survivor." It's a sequel to this story so yeah haha I just want to start out clean since the first chapter of this story was really really really really bad :P. So don't worry! This story isn't going to completely die. This story is still going to continue! If I get enough follows/favorites/reviews, I'll probably even write some chapters after Joel dies! So to keep things short? The next chapter will be the last one for this story, but the next story will continue off from the last chapter (hopefully that makes sense?). I really have noticed that my writing skills are getting better. It's all thanks to you guys!**

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**Thank you all for following/favoriting! be sure to keep an eye on my next story "The Better Survivor" (Title will explain in the next chapter!)**

**The next chapter will probably be posted by tomorrow/day after sometime afternoon/midnight!.**

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**I love all of you guys! Please continue to have faith in me. I'm just doing this so I can start with a new story. It kinda annoys me how bad my writing was from the beginning of the story.**

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**My updates aren't just wasteful writing though haha. Here's a sneak peak to the next story!**

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"What's the whole fuss about coffee? You've been complaining about that drink almost every morning."

"The taste is…" I tried to think of a word.

"Nostalgic?" She asked.

"Yeah… Since when did you learn these big words?" I turned around questioning her with my arms to my hips

"Dictionary and thesaurus. Neat words in here. Could come in handy you know." She took out a book that was about the size of a textbook.

"That looks pretty heavy."

"Complaining are for pussies."

"Learning some bad words now are you?"

"The guards over there taught me. I learned this new word that makes fun of black people or something… I think it's called ni-"

"Woah there ma'am. Don't be using that swear now."

"How come?"

"That's the worst one out there. Especially for you know… Dark skinned people."

"Well they also said that there's one for whites and Asians as well… I think the Asians are called chi-"

"Ellie."

* * *

**Last story is going to be pretty long. I'll be editing and trying my best to perfect it. Last chapter = tons of action and Joel + Ellie relationship.**

**Bear with me!**

**And so we go.**

**^kudos to those who know that quote.**


	12. Joel - Will the Circle Be Unbroken?

**OH SHIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIT. Over 5000 words (5150 to be exact :D)! This concludes the first part of the story! Don't worry guys. I will be writing the sequel very soon! I just want a new beginning! hahaha. So this story isn't going to dissapear so no need to worry! Have fun reading. Hopefully you'll love it.**

**Keep an eye for my next story!**

**"The Better Survivor" is going to be the next story title. Once again, to repeat myself, it will continue from THIS story!**

**Thank you for all the reviews, favorites, and follows! I loved them! I look forward to your reviews!**

**I must say, for my first story, I think of this story as successful!**

**I love you guys so much. Thank you so so much!**

**I'm just repeating myself but... MAKE SURE TO KEEP AN EYE ON THE SEQUEL!**

**THANKYOU FOR ALL THE REVIEWS/FOLLOWS/FAVORITES FOR MY ! :D**

**So without a further ado, here's the chapter!**

**Jelloe**

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**Chapter 10 – Joel –Will the Circle Be Unbroken?**

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"Put down the gun." I glared at him and tried to stay calm, "Just let her go. We'll walk our ways." I scanned around for a distraction, but there was nothing. We were about one hundred feet away. He was across from the other side of the river with Ellie. No way in hell would I have a perfect and clear shot. I knew going outside was a bad idea. I never wanted to do this. We're survivors. We can't take these chances anymore. It's all because of Sarah. I wouldn't be doing this if Ellie wasn't threatened to die.

The pale man chuckled and sneered with his gun pointed at Ellie's head, "You think I'd really do that?"

"What's your deal with us?" I asked, "You got kids in your own settlement."

His voice had a whispering and pugnacious tone, "That deal is none of your business. Boss gives his orders. We follow." His expression showed that he was enjoying every part of our talk.

I growled at what he said and clenched my teeth, "You gonna follow an order that gets children and innocent people killed?"

"As matter of fact…" He took an icy deep breath and said, "I am the leader. We just need supplies. Happy I told you now? Mind if we take any?"

"Like hell we will."

He chuckled and continued to have one arm grappled onto Ellie with the gun pointed to her head. I looked at Ellie who was glaring at him and trying to find an opening to take him down.

"I'll just keep this short. I'll be merciful today." He glared at me and slammed the butt of his gun onto Ellie's head and chuckled.

"Ellie!" I took a step forward.

"Don't you come any closer mister. You want one of you to die?" He pointed the gun towards me, then back at her, then back at me. Smiling.

I continued to try and aim at the man's face.

"Why haven't you fired yet? You too scared something might happen? I'd like to play a little game someday. Done it to many people already. Until that day, I'd advise you not to fuck with our territory ever again. Saw this bitch and another creepin' up in our territory." He threw his gun into the river, turned around, and chucked, "You guys are going to die someday. Why not sooner?"

"You're fucking crazy." My hands were shaking and swaying from anger. I still couldn't get a perfect aim to his head. I swam across the river going to Ellie's direction – adrenaline pumping through my body.

"She's one crazy bitch you know. You should reckon just leave her one day. These kids know their ways." He continued to walk away. I took out my gun and pointed towards where he walked. The crazy bitch continued to just walk away. I couldn't take the chances of meeting him again. I tried my best to aim for his head and pulled the trigger.

_-BANG-_

A trail of blood flew into the air. It barely skimmed his arm. "Ouch." He frowned as he wiped his arm, "Great shot there sir." He turned around again and took a deep breath. He shaped his fingers and hand so they were finger guns and slowly put them up. I couldn't bring Ellie anywhere to safety. There wasn't any cover to go behind. But what in God's name was he doing standing there pretending he had guns?

"So I was going to leave you be… But that really, really hurt." He continued to frown, "Oh? What's wrong? Am I too far away? You'd be a great survivor if you could actually shoot this far. I already have to pick up my voice…" He raised his finger guns all the way aiming for my head. "I'm a better survivor than you." He sneered with a flared nose, and pretended to fire.

_-BANG-_

A sharp sting ran through the back of my right knee. Blood trailed down and I kneeled down looking behind me. Two men came running towards me who were frail and weak. I tried my best to get up and fired back. They were close enough. I shot one in the head and he fell to the floor. My right knee stung savagely, but I continued to fire at the second person. I got him on the chest and by the second shot, he pummeled to the floor – motionless. I kneeled down again and clenched onto the back of my right knee. I felt warm blood trailing out and I applied pressure. The bullet burned my flesh from the speed – making a swelling and stinging pain. I grimaced as I continued to clench onto my right knee. I looked at Ellie and checked her pulse – still alive. I took a deep breath in relief. I turned around to find the pale man smiling excitedly.

"Shit. You just killed two of my men." He seemed to have been enjoying this.

"What the fuck are you?" I glared at him trying to hold in the piercing pain of my right leg. The pain was still swelling from the burn.

"I think you already know. Joel. All those raids we did. It seems like you switched sides!" He put up his hands.

The face. The eyes. The nose. No doubt. Now that I realized it, I knew who he was. "Larry. How are you still ali-"

"Like I said. I'm a better survivor than you." He turned around, "We'll talk when we go back… _Friend._" He crossed his arm. I began to lose focus and couldn't even hold onto my gun. I was losing too much blood.

"I… We thought you were dea-"

-WHAM-

* * *

5 Hours ago

* * *

I grumbled as I woke up to the morning birds outside. I looked around to find Ellie Sitting by the wall writing in her diary.

"Hey." She said candidly.

"Mornin'" I replied back as I yawned.

"You know what I haven't noticed you do lately?" Ellie continued to write in her diary.

"What's that?"

"Your nightmares. Ever since after winter. You went silent." She was focused on her writing.

"What time is it?" I tried to shake the sleepiness out of my head.

"Check your watch."

I looked down at it. "My watch is broken."

"No. Your batteries are just dead. Found some down in the factory today. Here" She laid down two small round batteries and a screwdriver, "Knock yourself out."

"Ellie. Let's go through this. Even if this is Joel and Maria's place, it's not safe goin' there alone."

"Yeah, yeah, yeah. Just put them in. I'm not sure if they still got any juice left though."

"Ain't gonna work. You gotta know what the actual time is." I acknowledged the battery as I got up and put them in my backpack. "How'd you know that my watch didn't have batteries in 'em?"

"Winter." She repeated herself and continued to write in her battery.

I stared at her blankly and looked back at my watch. I took out the batteries on the day Sarah died. I sighed, got up, and picked up my backpack to get breakfast from the dining quarters.

"You eaten yet?"

"Waiting for you." She was still writing.

"Let's go" I strapped my backpack around me and walked outside with Ellie following. I took a deep breath of the warm spring air and cracked my neck.

"Ew." Ellie said from behind.

"They should grow coffee." I muttered to myself.

"What's the whole fuss about coffee? You've been complaining about that drink almost every morning."

"The taste is…" I tried to think of a word.

"Nostalgic?" She asked.

"Yeah… Since when did you learn these big words?" I turned around questioning her with my arms to my hips

"Dictionary and thesaurus. Neat words in here. Could come in handy you know." She took out a book that was about the size of a textbook.

"That looks pretty heavy."

"Complaining are for pussies."

"Learning some bad words now are you?"

"The guards over there taught me. I learned this new word that makes fun of black people or something… I think it's called ni-"

"Woah there ma'am. Don't be using that swear now."

"How come?"

"That's the worst one out there. Especially for you know… Dark skinned people."

"Well they also said that there's one for whites and Asians as well… I think the Asians are called chi-"

"Ellie."

"Ok, ok. I promise I won't use those words. Geez." She crossed her arms and started to walk pass me. "Hey I gotta go to Sarah for my checkup. Get me some food."

"Will do." I replied as I walked her jog towards the first aid grounds.

As I walked slowly towards the dining quarters, guards and parents waved at me warmly. I nodded back. Yesterday was quite a day for her. When I got me and Ellie's food, I saw Tommy sitting with the guard I talked to yesterday. I walked up and sat down across from Tommy. He didn't have any food and he seemed tired. I looked around to see other guards eyeing him and Maria, who was across the other side of the room, sitting with parents, and drinking water. I placed Ellie's food next to mine and began to eat.

There was a good thirty seconds of silence until I asked a question. "The hell happened with you last night?" I asked as I chowed down on my meal.

"Maria's pissed off and gave a good bitchin' last night about what happened yesterday."

"So what exactly happened when we were gone?"

"Hell. Guards were foolin' around. Probably weren't on their post. We'll talk to 'em today. Lost some people yesterday. Crazy shits happenin' lately Joel. I don't like this. We got three hours 'til we're up on duty today." Tommy's eyes were sagging, but the concern in his voice told me he was worried about everyone's safety.

"Hey. What's happening?" Ellie sat next to me and picked up a fork and began to eat.

"Just talking about yesterday." Tommy replied trying to stay awake.

"Oh." Ellie looked down at her meal and hesitated to eat more. The food was decent enough nowadays. Breakfast contained fresh milk from the cows, baked bread, eggs, banana, and water. Hard to scavenge for food. Nice to know our settlement grows and makes our own food now. "Man. I've never tried food this good."

"Ever been to one of those Michelin Star restaurants? Man. Been to one with my ex once. Best night ever." The guard sat there daydreaming while he was eating his food, "Guess I'll never get to eat food that great ever again."

"At least we know this shit's natural." Tommy murmured. He rubbed his eyes and started to eat as well. "Ain't synthetic no more. Some all natural egg and milk."

After fifteen minutes of silent eating, everyone finally finished. "Hey," Ellie said wiping her mouth, "Where can we get a guitar?"

I looked to Tommy and said, "I wanna teach her guitar. Got any to borrow?"

"I think we do. Old man down there plays and makes 'em." He pointed down an alleyway, "The Brown house."

"Got it." I got up, "C'mon Ellie."

Ellie stood up and started to run towards the brown house. "You promised to sing you know."

"Yeah, yeah." I caught up to her and we got into the store.

The brown house, on the outside, looked crude and somber. As for the inside, the wooden floor was nicely cleaned and guitars hanged around the room. "Oh man." Ellie walked through the room looking at all the guitars. She strummed one of the guitars, but the sound was off. Ellie grimaced at the odd sound and said, "The place I lived in had guards that played guitar you know. I always wanted to learn."

"Oh hey there! Didn't see you guys come in. You guys want a guitar?"

"Yeah."

"I'm probably the last guitar maker you'll ever meet. Better get a good look at me no?" The old man had a hunched back and walked towards Ellie and patted he head. He looked at me and asked, "Oh! This must be… Joe… right?"

"Joel." I corrected him. "I used to play guitar. Mind if we check this place out?"

"Why sure thing Jobe!"

Not paying attention to his misnomer, I began to look around the room and strummed different guitars. After about a half an hour of searching, we finally found one that sounded good. We brought it up to the counter and I took out my pack for a trade. The old man just stood there and smiled, staring at what I have to offer.

"You really do play the guitar. I must say. This guitar wasn't made by me. He was my father! Built it for me…" He smiled, "Got arthritis on my fingers now. Can't play anymore… You… You keep it." He smiled again, but more warmly this time, "Don't want to just leave this one behind now do I?" He took a deep breath. He turned around and went behind the counter to get some picks. "That's Brazilian rosewood you got there. My dad went there and cut some. Made it himself. Year was… 1936. He had a mission trip there. He planned on selling it for one-thousand dollars. During the great depression! Crazy bitch." He chuckled and continued his story after he placed the picks down. "This wood is thin as paper. The more it ages, the better is sounds. Treat it with care." He patted the guitar, picked it up, and passed it to me. "You saved our lives. This is the least I could do."

I hesitantly took it. "No wonder it sounded so great. It's Brazilian rosewood… I acknowledged the guitar and took a strap to strap it on. "Thanks… uhm…" I hinted for his name.

"Nick!" He smiled at me, "Just call me Nick. Sixty-four years old."

"Thank you Nick." I opened the door and walked out.

"C'mon! I wanna learn like right now! Let's go to our room! I'll wait for you there." Ellie took the guitar from my hands, strapped it around her body, and jogged to our house.

"Ellie be careful with that thing!" I called back. If she trips now, then that guitar's gonna break. I began to jog when Nick walked behind me.

"Oh… and Jobe?" He called back.

I turned around and wondered what he was going to say. He gave a warm smile again and said, "Keep her safe"

I nodded and turned around. I jogged down the road and got into the house with Ellie inspecting and feeling the glossy touch of the guitar. "This is like the smoothest thing I've ever felt. Is this seriously wood?" She started knocking against it. She strummed with open strings and looked up. "What song are we learning today? I'm singing right? Oh wait. Can I whistle while I play…? Can I-"

"Ok slow down. Here give it here." I grabbed a stool and took the guitar from her hands. I began to think in my head what song to sing. A Christian song came up, but I didn't know if Ellie was religious or not.

"You… don't mind religious songs do you? This can be a pretty sweet song."

"I don't mind. I just wanna sing." She sat there anticipating for me to play, "You're singing right?"

I sighed. "Don't be telling Tommy or Maria. Got it?"

She nodded and smiled.

I sighed and tuned the acoustic guitar. It's been over ten years since I've held on. I felt the glossy finish and the metallic strings press against my hand. I put my fingers on different positions and strummed with once across with me hand.

"Woah! Cool!" Ellie's back bent forward and she put her hands on her chin.

I strummed some more from the song and as I strummed and plucked I said, "We can do a duet if you get good you know."

"Ok play something. You better teach me after though."

I took a deep breath and began to sing "_Will the Circle be Unbroken"_

* * *

"_There are loved ones in the glory_

_Whose dear forms you often miss._

_When you close your earthly story,_

_Will you join them in their bliss?_

_Will the circle be unbroken?_

_By and by, by and by?_

_Is a better home awaiting_

_In the sky, in the sky?_

_In the joyous days of childhood_

_Oft they told of wondrous love_

_Pointed to the dying Saviour;_

_Now they dwell with Him above._

_You remember songs of heaven_

_Which you sang with childish voice._

_Do you love the hymns they taught you?_

_Or are songs of earth your choice?_

_You can picture happy gatherings_

_Round the fireside long ago,_

_And you think of tearful partings_

_When they left you here below._

_One by one their seats were emptied._

_One by one they went away._

_Now the family is parted._

_Will it be complete one day?_"

* * *

I strummed the last chord and closed my eyes imagining sitting on my front porch with the warm breeze of summer air as I strummed and plucked away on this song. I took a deep breath and opened my eyes. Ellie stared at me and opened her mouth. "Never in my life. That sounds so fucking awesome!"

I took off the guitar and put it around her. "Your turn to try. How about we just first take it easy and strum the chords of the song?"

Ellie nodded and waited for my orders. Just like any guitar teacher, I took her hands and placed them on different strings and I would tell her to strum. I had to admit, she was eager to learn and gifted as a guitarist. She strummed slow at first and thought hard If she knew something on her positioning from her fingers weren't right. After about two hours, She was already able to play the entire song on guitar without error.

"Good job Ellie. You memorized the guitar part." I applauded her for the first time, "Let's get down to singing. I want you to hum it first. You know how it goes right?"

She nodded and tried to hum. "That's pretty hard. Shit. Ok. I got it hold up. _Hmm, hmm…_" I crossed my arms and listened. If she forget how the tune went, I would help and hum for her. After a good half-hour, she was able to hum through the song while playing.

"Told you it's easy." I said. I took a deep breath, "Alright It's been two hours. Do you want to take a break or sing it now?"

"Fuck breaks. I want to sing now. Ok. Can you like… write down the words or something? I don't remember 'em."

"Sure thing. Take out your writing utensils."

"I got a better idea." Ellie got up, took out only a pencil and gave me it. "Write it on the wall Joel."

"Why would I do that…?" I asked

"Who knows," Ellie shrugged, "If this place someday gets settled and when both of us… die, they'll remember us! Write down the chords and everything too!"

"I don't like this ide-"

"Joel. Please?"

"No."

"I'll write it then." Ellie walked towards the wall and wrote in big words, "_A Song Sung by Ellie and Joel_"

I sighed. I can't believe she's doing this. She really is going overboard. Is Sarah telling me to spoil her or something? Then again, I'm actually enjoying this as well. "Fine." I started to say the lyrics and she wrote. After sometime, the whole wall was covered with lyrics. Ellie sighed and walked back to her seat. "Ok. I can do this."

She took it slowly and sang. She had a good voice. By the time she sang the third time, she already put her emotion into the song and sang on beat. As soon as she ended the song, I clapped for her and smiled. I smiled. Ellie smiled. It was a great moment for me and her. "Great job Ellie."

"I want to take a break now… I don't know if this is a good idea, but how about swimming?"

"You'll be fine."

I stopped clapping, but I could still here clapping from outside our room with some whooping.

"Great job Ellie!"

"You're so talented!"

"Beautiful voice!"

"It's been so long!"

I smiled again, "I guess you got yourself some fans."

I took a step outside to see our station group outside. Tommy was standing in front of them and said, "What are you guys doing here?"

"You do know that you're fifteen minutes late right?"

"Shit."

I looked behind and saw Sarah behind all the guards. She smiled at me and gave a thumbs up sign. She came up and whispered, "You're doing a great job. Really."

"This girl persuaded me for you guys to have a day off. Told Maria… She was silent. But I think she understood. Go on doing your business. We got someone to fill you in. We'll be fine! Go have some fun with her."

"So we're going swimming I guess?

"I need to help you guys-"

"Oh you're going to teach her how to swim? You can help us out there. We're low on berries and fire supplies. We'll get you an axe. Chop down a tree for us while you guys go have some fun."

I hesitated, but Ellie really was having some fun for the first time. I sighed. "Give me the axe. C'mon Ellie."

Ellie followed me as usual and Tommy gave me the axe. They opened the gate and we went up the small hill on the left to the trees. Not near the waterfall, there was a calm river to teach Ellie.

"We're cutting wood first." I said to her, "You had enough fun for now."

"Sure." Ellie clutched her axe and saw a tree for us to cut. I hacked at the tree until it finally fell down. Ellie was panting from the work from the tree. "Alright. Time to split it."

I put two hands on the axe handle and hacked at the tree that is now laying on the ground. A good hour went by, but I knew it was only about lunch time. Tommy packed us a sandwich for both of us to eat. Thank god they grow food and hunt. It's been awhile since I ate fresh meat. Ellie on the other hand, never ate a sandwich before.

"You seriously never ate a sandwich?"

"No." She chewed inspecting the sandwich in her hand, "Back before I met you, we ate canned beans and spam almost every single day. Once I met you, we hunted meat, gathered berries, and stuff, but I never actually ate a sandwich before."

Confused and doubting, I asked, "Oh I see. So when was the first time you ever seen a squirrel?"

"When we hunted. Obviously."

"_That's odd_" I thought, "_When we went hiking, she said that was the first time she ever saw a squirrel._ Might need to tell Sarah about this."

I nodded. "Ready? Let's swim."

She got up and took a deep breath. "I'm not going to like drown right?"

I nodded my head sideways, "I'll be in the water with you and support you. You'll be fine."

"Ok." She seemed to look worried.

"Look. It's right over there." The river was flowing down the mountain, but we walked as far from it making sure Ellie doesn't get caught in the rapids.

As we walked down, Ellie continued to sing "_Will the Circle Be Unbroken_" until we got there.

"This is survival ok Ellie? You're going to have to wear your clothes. Walk in first. I'll be right behind you."

She stopped singing and took a big and calm breath. One step, two steps, three steps… The river was up to her shins. Four steps, five steps… Knees. By the time we got to her fifteenth step, the water was chest high. Perfect for her to hold her breath and swim without drowning.

"Ok. First step. I want you to _calmly_ lie down on your back. Don't worry. I got you."

"Ok." She moved her head backward and breathed in a huge load of river water. "What the fuck?" She chocked and coughed.

"You moved you head backward. I want you to move your body. You can do it."

"How exactly do I do that?"

"You have to lift off your feet honey."

She took a deep breath and tried again. My hands were lightly on her back. "Ok. Done. Woah… that's a nice view. Look up."

I looked up and caught the nice blue sky patched across the mid-day air. "Sure is nice." I sighed and began to talk again. "Ok so can you tell what's happening right now Ellie? Your breathing and you sinking?"

Ellie breathed in and out. Each time she let air out, she began to sink and caused her to flail her arms. But as soon as she breathed in, she started to float again.

"Yeah. That's cool."

"Air's lighter than water. You're lungs are taking in air. Which is why you float. Ok stand back up now."

Ellie grunted and got herself to stand back up. "I want you to go underwater now ok?"

"Fuck."

"Just put your face in the water for now. As you touch water, be sure to breathe out so water doesn't go up your nose. That causes you to choke and lose air. You ready?"

Ellie turned pale. She took a deep breath again. I knew this wasn't comfortable for her. The chilling water and the current definitely made her feel uncomfortable.

"Ellie listen to me."

"What?"

"You're doing a good job." I assured her, "Now go face down under the water and breathe out. I'll count to three. One… Two… _Three_."

Ellie took a huge breath and put her face in the water. The bubbles she made were huge, but she is able have her face underwater. She put up her face and nodded. "That's easy. Look."

This time, she put her whole entire body inside and stood underwater for three seconds and got back up. "Good job. Time to swim. Now listen. If you were to get tired, I just want you to roll onto your back and breath slowly ok?"

She nodded. I explained to her about swimming and by the time the sun was coming down, she was almost able to master it. She still chocked on water, but she was able to swim. "I got one last challenge Ellie."

"What's that?"

"Swim to the other side, and swim back."

Her eyes widened in disbelief. She definitely didn't think that I would challenge her to that. But she calmed down immediately and took a deep breath. "Ok fine."

I sat on the bank and told her to swim. She immediately swam to the other side of the river and I smiled again. She learned how to play guitar and swim on the same day. She really is getting better. Her mood is much better than before. Sarah really was right.

That's when I saw it.

She continued to wave at me, faster and faster. Both her hands were up as if she knew someone was behind her. Something was actually behind her. The bushes were moving and before I could yell, a pale man grabbed onto her shirt. She screamed in surprise and kicked frantically. "Ellie!" I screamed. I lunged forwards, but two hands grabbed my back and pulled me back from the river. A skinny man punched me in the head. The heavy blow got me disoriented and hurt my head. I regained consciousness and got back up to see him standing with his fists balled together. I lunged towards him – hit his chest, then head, and kicked him to make him fall down. My hands felt numb from his hard skull. I kicked his head again so hard that blood began to flow down his nose. I grabbed onto his shirt, hit his head again and hurled him into the lake. I shook my hand, took my gun out of my pocket, and turned around – prepared to swim across the river to where Ellie is.

I was too late. The pale man had a gun around Ellie's head and grinning at me. A scar ran down his eye down to his face. Just like what Ellie had said. This was the man who set fire onto the factory.

"What do you want from us?" I asked glaring. He was too far away. The river separated us. "Fuck me." I cursed myself for not going across with Ellie. I looked at her. The arm was buckled against her throat.

"Don't you come any closer. I have a good grip you know. One move, and I'll snap her neck. Same goes with you cutie." He looked down at Ellie and tilted her head down. "Your skin's so beautiful. Did anyone tell you that?" The pale man made it loud enough for me to hear. Anger flushed through me. I heard Ellie scream and shout, "Fuck you! Get the fuck off me you shit!"

The pale man widened his eyes. "You taught her these bad, bad words. You're so bad little girl."

"Don't you fucking do anything to her!" I screamed at him. No one's going to touch her. I'll show him.

The pale man laughed as he enjoyed himself. "Oh poor, poor family. She's the only one left that you care about huh? What about you little girl? You miss your daddy? Want your ba-ba?" I saw Ellie struggling to get free, but she couldn't let go of his grip. Her hands were in his grip as well. Not allowing her to do anything.

"Can we just settle this like men? Just put down the gun." I began to lower mine.

"Hell no" He smiled and shot. The bullet was flew five inches from me on the ground. A piece of rock hit my shoulder. I put my gun up again.

I couldn't do anything.

Ellie's too far away.

This psycho is unpredictable.

I couldn't call for help.

"Put down the gun."

"Like hell I will."

"We'll walk our ways."

"Bullshit."

"Please just put down the gun."

"Jesus Christ. Why can't you just shut the fuck up and accept that your poor little daughter is going to die? Everyone dies now. Nothing special anymore." He grinned clenching the gun harder than before.

We're survivors. We should never have done this.

It was my fault. This was all my fault.

I controlled my breath and tried to remain calm.

"Put down the gun." Fear was flowing through me. My hands were shaking "Just let her go. We'll walk our ways."


End file.
